Their triumphs at the European Championships in Munich caused a sensation: Gina Lückenkemper and Niklas Kaul were honored after a memorable year in sport. In the team ranking at the award ceremony in Baden-Baden, the decision was closer. In the end, the honor goes to Hesse.
The track and field aces Gina Lückenkemper and Niklas Kaul, who were decorated with gold at the European Championships, as well as the European heroes from Eintracht Frankfurt are Germany’s “Athletes of the Year” 2022. The sprint queen and the decathlon hero were voted in for the 76th time by sports journalists rewarded their equally emotional and successful appearances at the European Championships in Munich, the Bundesliga soccer club for the sensational triumph in the Europa League.
The winners were honored at the gala in the Kurhaus in Baden-Baden. After there had been significant restrictions in the past two years due to the corona pandemic, the festive Bénazetsaal was again fully occupied with around 500 guests. “The year could not have gone any better for me personally,” said Lückenkemper on the red carpet. “I still have to pinch myself sometimes. It was total madness.”
With 1358 points, the 25-year-old relegated the long jump world champion Malaika Mihambo (863), who has won three times in a row, to second place. Third place went to luge queen Natalie Geisenberger (766), who won individual and team gold at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing and became the most successful German winter Olympian with a total of six victories.
Lückenkemper won gold over 100 meters in 10.99 seconds at the European Championships and then also ran to the title in the 4×100 meter relay – although she had injured her knee at the finish line with the spikes on her running shoes. At that time, the laceration had to be sewn up during the night with eight stitches. But the mishap quickly became a minor matter. “I already felt like a little rock star,” said Lückenkemper after her gold sprint over the ovations of the fans in Munich’s Olympic Stadium.
On that August 16th, decathlon ace Kaul had just turned the arena into a party zone. With a storm in the final 1500-meter race, the Mainzer snatched the title from Swiss Simon Ehammer, who had been leading up to that point, and celebrated his second major triumph after World Cup gold in 2019 a lot together,” admitted the 24-year-old after the European Championship triumph. The energy performance in Munich – after eight of ten competitions Kaul was still in seventh place – brought him victory in the survey with 1256 points for the second time. Kaul had already been honored three years ago.
Second place for men went to Vinzenz Geiger (871). The Nordic combined athlete stormed to gold in the individual competition at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing with an unforgettable performance on the last climb. Third was Germany’s top swimmer Florian Wellbrock (761). The 25-year-old had returned from the World Championships with five medals, including two gold ones.
It was more exciting for the teams, where Eintracht Frankfurt prevailed with 975 points ahead of the women’s track and field sprint relay (895). Third place went to the German soccer players (828), who had impressed at the European Championships in the summer and were only stopped in the final by hosts England.
The Hessian Bundesliga club won the Europa League on a magical football night in Seville in May by beating Glasgow Rangers on penalties. “I’m partying until Saturday and I’m going on vacation on Sunday,” said Eintracht coach Oliver Glasner euphorically afterwards.
In Baden-Baden, national bobsleigh coach René Spies and gymnastics trainer Julia Raskina were also honored for their successful work this year. The 49-year-old Spies and the 40-year-old Belarusian Raskina were voted coach of the year by a jury of the German Olympic Sports Confederation, as the umbrella organization announced at the “Sportsman of the Year” gala. While Raskina was being honored in the evening, Spies was also looking after his pilots at the World Cup in Lake Placid.
Spies had led his teams to seven medals at the Beijing Winter Olympics. Among them were three out of four possible gold medals. Raskina brought the rhythmic sports gymnasts from Germany to the top of the world. At the World Championships last September in Sofia, the team won a total of five medals, one even in gold. It was the biggest German success for more than 30 years.