They are the medal guarantors of track cycling, they are the team of the year: the women’s track four. But the end of a career and a violent fall force the team to regroup. It cannot build on the successes of previous years at the World Cup.
The title series of the German women’s track four broke at the World Cup on the Olympic oval in Paris. The two Tokyo Olympic champions Mieke Kröger and Franziska Brauße missed the medal runs together with the newcomers Lena Charlotte Reissner and the just 18-year-old Lana Eberle. With a time of 4:15.017 minutes, the quartet improved by almost two seconds compared to the qualification, but missed the small final with the sixth fastest time.
The newly formed quartet of the German Cyclists’ Association had at least won their first-round duel against the USA. “We can definitely be satisfied, we drove good times,” said Kröger, “we had confidence in our rookies, and we can build on that.” A good second was missing for entering the bronze race. Great Britain (4:10.109) and Italy (4:11.562) contest the final.
The German women’s four had won almost everything in the past two years. After gold in Tokyo, the foursome, who were named Team of the Year at the Sports Gala, also triumphed at the 2021 World Cup and at the European Championships in 2021 and 2022. Lisa Brennauer, who resigned after the European Championships in Munich, is missing from the gold foursome at the Summer Games in Tokyo in France and Lisa Klein, who has ended her season. Laura üßmilch, world champion in 2021 with Kröger, Brausse and Brennauer in Roubaix, is also absent from the Tour de France as a result of her fall.
The sprinters, on the other hand, are clearly on course for a medal in the individual sprint one day after their gold medal in the team competition. Defending champion Emma Hinze and Lea Sophie Friedrich have reached the semi-finals and thus already secured another German medal. After initial problems, Hinze prevailed in two runs against Hetty van der Wouw from the Netherlands, and Friedrich also won 2-0 against Ellesse Andrews from New Zealand. On the other hand, Pauline Grabosch came up against former speed skater Laurine van Riessen from the Netherlands in the quarter-finals.
On the other hand, there was a disappointment for the German men in the keirin. Former sprint world champion Stefan Bötticher dropped out in the quarter-finals after Marc Jurczyk had previously failed to get past the repechage. This means that the final will take place in the evening without German participation.
