One silver, two bronze
DLV teams shine with three medals in the half marathon
09.06.2024, 10:12 a.m.
The German athletics team can celebrate at the start of the third day of competition. There are three medals in the half marathon: Amanal Petros wins bronze in the individual event and leads the men’s team, which also comes in third place. The women’s team even takes silver shortly afterwards.
Amanal Petros won the bronze medal in the half marathon at the European Athletics Championships in Rome after a thrilling final sprint. The German marathon record holder went along with every speed attack in the 21.1 kilometer race and finally crossed the finish line in third place in 1:01:07 hours. In an exciting race, gold went to the Italian Yemaneberhan Crippa (1:01:03) ahead of his compatriot Pietro Riva (1:01:04). All three remained well under the previous championship record of 1:02:03 hours.
In the women’s race, German hopeful Melat Kejeta missed out on an individual medal, finishing fifth in 1:09:42 hours, but the German women’s team with Kejeta, Domenika Mayer (11th/1:10:49) and Esther Pfeiffer (18th/1:11:28) were happy to win silver behind Great Britain and ahead of Spain. Individual gold went to Norwegian Karoline Bjerkeli Grövdal, who had already won silver in the 5000 metres on Friday, with a championship record of 1:08:09 hours, ahead of Romanian Joan Chelimo Melly (1:08:55) and Calli Thackery (Great Britain/1:08:58).
On the impressive course, which started in the shadow of the Colosseum, passed St. Peter’s Basilica and ended in the Stadio Olimpico, Fitwi and Petros were among the frontrunners from the start. The runners were spared the intense heat of the previous days as the sky was overcast and the weather was slightly humid. Two kilometers from the finish, the German duo increased the pace of the leading group, which now consisted of only five people. Petros then lost some of his time on the stadium lap and had to hand over silver to Riva.
“We pushed each other as a team. It was fantastic. I was lacking a bit of speed at the end,” said Petros, who came in a disappointing fourth place in the Munich marathon two years ago, on ARD. Because Samuel Fitwi (1:01:17) came in a strong fifth place and Filimon Abraham (1:03:09) also ran a courageous race in 22nd place, the men also won a medal in the team ranking: The German team also took bronze in the team ranking behind the superior European champions Italy and Israel.
It is the second individual medal for the German team in Italy, after shot putter Yemisi Ogunleye also won bronze on Friday. The marathon distance was not on the European Championship programme due to the Summer Olympics taking place in around eight weeks. European champion Richard Ringer played only a minor role in 28th place (1:03:53), Simon Boch was 31st (1:04:16), Hendrik Pfeiffer 34th (1:04:32), and in the women’s category Fabienne Königstein completed the result in 20th place (1:11:34) and Katharina Steinruck in 37th place (1:12:48).