At the European Championships in Munich, Germany's marathon runners won gold in the team competition on Monday, August 15. Mariam Dattke (fourth place), Domenika Mayer (sixth place) and Deborah Schöneborn (tenth place) came through for the team at the European Championships. Dattke narrowly missed out on an individual medal. In total, all six German runners finished in the top 20, with Poland's Aleksandra Lisowska winning the marathon.
The race did not go as planned for German athlete Katharina Steinruck. "For me it didn't go well," she said looking back a few days after the race. "I'm super sad that I couldn't show what I can do," she added. The 32-year-old stepped into a pothole during the race. Limping, she continued the race. She said she was "just unlucky." "The course of the race was right up my alley," said Steinruck, who nevertheless persevered, did not abandon the marathon despite the misfortune and finished her run. She eventually finished in 15th place with a time of 2:32:41 hours. The athlete will certainly look back on the European Championships Munich 2022 with one eye crying and one eye laughing. "Of course, the team medal is also a super success. I am extremely proud of our girls' team!" she said. The feeling and the atmosphere in Munich had been "awesome". "Four times ten kilometers, an amazing atmosphere and party along the course!" the 32-year-old said enthusiastically in retrospect.
The weather conditions were also kind to the athletes on Monday. Although a heat race had been feared in advance, the runners were able to start at 10:30 a.m. under cloudy skies at around 21 degrees Celsius. Nevertheless, the high humidity made it difficult for the runners.
In the men's race, which started an hour later, the German Richard Ringer caused a real sensation. He put in a sensational final sprint on the home stretch and secured the gold medal in 2:10:21 hours. The German men's team also secured the silver medal in the team classification.
Text: Michelle Brey
Photo: Xenia Stolz