“Smash that thing down”
Completely euphoric relay breaks medal ban
7/24/2022 8:46 am
They jump, scream, and a few tears of happiness flow: the German delegation won their first medal on the penultimate day of the World Cup. The sprinters around Gina Lückenkemper get bronze with the relay. They reward you for years of work.
Rebekka Haase raced towards the miracle of Eugene with the sprint of her life, Gina Lückenkemper screamed at her relay friend, jumping wildly in the direction of the goal: With a surprising bronze coup, the famous women’s relay redeemed the German team and for the first medal at this previously disappointing World Cup taken care of.
“It’s incredible, I’m incredibly proud of all of us,” said final runner Haase, who kept the oncoming competition at a distance with a dream race at the end of a gripping 4×100 meters after preparatory work by Tatjana Pinto, Alexandra Burghardt and Gina Lückenkemper: “I knew what my job is just slam that thing down.”
And how the Saxon did it: “It looked so great,” said Lückenkemper after Haase had run the DLV quartet to the home port after 42.03 seconds behind the USA (41.14) and Jamaica (41.18): “When I gave Becki the baton, I knew what was possible. I got such an adrenaline rush that I wanted to keep storming hand in hand with her.”
“Finally Rewarded”
Actually, the German medal chance for the fixed four was not the greatest. Even though first runner Pinto said after the race: “When I was at the start, that was clear to me. We were mentally prepared for this bronze medal.” It seemed set in stone that the USA and top favorite Jamaica would decide the victory among themselves. Behind them, Great Britain around ex-world champion Dinah Asher-Smith was the first bronze candidate – but Asher-Smith injured himself in third place, the Brits only finished sixth. The door was open to the Germans – and they stormed through.
“I watched. I’m really happy for the girls,” said javelin thrower Julian Weber, who was actually Germany’s biggest contender for a medal and also competed in his competition, in which he was unlucky fourth: “That actually pushed me, but I could Unfortunately, we can’t take the energy with us.”
The four German sprinters had plenty of energy, proudly romping through the mixed zone with their big medals around their necks. “We finally got our reward,” said Burghardt. Most recently, a women’s relay team won a medal (also bronze) at the home World Championships in Berlin in 2009, when none of the four Eugene sprinters were there. In the past seven years, however, this formed the current successful team – especially Pinto, Haase and Burghardt had to wait until the ripe sprint age for the redeeming success, Lückenkemper was there as a teenager. “This is a success that we could only achieve together,” said Lückenkemper.