At the European Championships in Munich, the German marathon runners shine with a phenomenal team performance – and win gold. However, the German marathon hopeful Miriam Dattke narrowly missed out on bronze in her individual performance. Nienke Brinkman from the Netherlands secured third place.
The German marathon runners won the gold medal in the team competition at the European Championships in Munich. Miriam Dattke (Regensburg/rank 4), Domenika Mayer (Regensburg/rank 6) and Deborah Schöneborn (Berlin/rank 10) prevailed in the first track and field decisions at the European Championships. Aleksandra Lisowska from Poland secured the European title in the individual race.
The team decision was integrated into a European championship for the first time in the Bavarian state capital. The best three starters per nation were included in the ranking, the trio with Dattke, Mayer, Schöneborn gave the German Athletics Association (DLV) the hoped-for sense of achievement at the start of the European Championships at home.
It was almost enough for an individual medal. Dattke had to admit defeat to Nienke Brinkman from the Netherlands, who won bronze, in a thrilling decision on the home stretch. Silver went to Matea Parlov Kostro from Croatia. “I’m super happy, of course I would have liked to have won a medal,” said Dattke, adding: “The mood is awesome.”
In the run-up to the race, there had been concerns and discussions about a possible hot race. Because temperatures above 30 degrees were initially to be feared, numerous runners had asked for the start time to be moved to the early hours of the morning. The organizers did not comply with the request last Friday with reference to the short-term forecasts.
In fact, at the start of the women’s race at 10:30 a.m. in the morning, the outside temperature was 21 degrees. The sky over Munich, where four laps through the city center had to be completed, was overcast. However, humid conditions with high humidity prevailed, which made the race difficult for the athletes.
