European Championships: Three more European Championship titles for track cycling team

The German track cyclists continued their winning streak at the European Championships in Munich.

Heinrich pulls off a surprise coup

After the victories in the team decisions, Mieke Kröger from Bielefeld won her second title in the 3000 metre single pursuit and Emma Hinze from Cottbus won her second title in the 500 metre time trial. Nicolas Heinrich from Chemnitz also pulled off a surprise coup with gold in the 4000 metre single pursuit.

• European Championships: All information about the cycling competitions

Moritz Malcharek (Berlin) finished second in the 15-kilometre scratch race at the end of the second day of decisions. This means that the German Cycling Federation (BDR) has already won five European Championship titles and one silver medal on the oval at the Munich Exhibition Centre.

Kröger defeats Brennauer in the German final

In a German final, Mieke Kröger unexpectedly defeated world champion Lisa Brennauer. In 3:22.469 minutes, the 29-year-old was 1.097 seconds faster than her five years older team-mate from Durach, who missed out on a success at the end of her track career. "As much as I like the team discipline, winning an individual title is really good for the soul," said the new European champion.

• After a serious fall: Track cycling world champion Paternoster posts on Instagram

Brennauer, who missed out on crowning her track career with another title, didn't take the defeat too badly. "I had another great race and can be really happy about this amazing finish," she said. "If anyone can beat me, it's her of course. I'm also happy for Mieke. She deserved it, she had the faster legs today."

Record by Hinze

Emma Hinze also had fast legs. In the time trial final, the sprint world champion improved her German record to 32.668 seconds after setting a national best of 32.732 seconds in the morning qualifying. "I didn't expect that, because that's almost a second faster than my best time. It just went well somehow. It's definitely really cool," she said of her record-breaking run.

Heinrich surprised

Nicolas Heinrich, meanwhile, provided a big surprise. The 20-year-old U23 European champion won the final of the single pursuit in 4:09.320 seconds against the Italian Davide Plebani, after he had already set the best time in qualifying in 4:08.995 minutes. "Indescribable. The crowd was great. A perfect day for me," said the German police officer.

Copyright 2022, dpa (www.dpa.de). All rights reserved