- Mujinga Kambundji wins the silver medal at the European Championships in Munich over 100 m.
- She is only 5 thousandths behind the local winner Gina Lückenkemper.
- Top favorite and defending champion Dina Asher-Smith has to abandon the final run.
While it usually only lasts around 10 seconds, a 100m dash can be quite exciting. After a good start and a long lead, Mujinga Kambundji seemed to be running towards the gold medal. Carried by the German audience, Gina Lückenkemper rushed up from behind and apparently crossed the finish line at the same time as the woman from Bern.
It then took almost as long as the competition itself until the result was known: Kambundji and Lückenkemper had a time of 10.99 seconds, but 5 thousandths spoke for the 25-year-old German – to the overwhelming delight of the audience. Kambundji was awarded silver, just 1/100th of a second ahead of Daryll Neita, who also finished fast.
As expected, the first 3 seconds of the run were dominated by top favorite and defending champion Dina Asher-Smith. But suddenly the Briton slowed down and – apparently battered – didn’t pull through fully anymore.
Frey and Kouni without exploit
Kambundji took the lead and, after the gripping finish, was able to celebrate her best performance ever at a European Championship. The Swiss sprint queen has thus reached her first goal in the Olympic Stadium. She also wants to hit the half track loop and possibly the relay in the final competition of these title fights.
Two other Swiss women were already stuck in the semifinals: Géraldine Frey (11.38) and Natacha Kouni (11.54) as the last of their heat clearly missed the final of the top 8 in the end. Kambundji had won their semi-final heat in a superior manner (11.05).