Track Cycling World Championships 2022: Three more medals for Germany
DPA
· 15.10.2022
Lea Sophie Friedrich pedalled with her last ounce of strength, but was denied the crown as the new sprint queen in the French witches' cauldron.
The dominance of the German women's sprinters came to an end against Mathilde Gros and 5000 enthusiastic French fans - Friedrich and the dethroned world champion Emma Hinze and Co. got a bitter foretaste of what they could face at the 2024 Summer Games on the Olympic track in Paris on Friday.
Silver for Friedrich - Hinze takes bronze
Because Gros - supported by the crowd - inflicted a painful defeat on the German high-flyers one after the other and took the World Championship title for the first time in a shower of confetti. "I would have loved to have the rainbow jersey. In hindsight, I'm also proud of the silver medal. Of course I was missing this title," said Friedrich, referring to the great atmosphere in the stands: "Of course you can hear that it's loud. But I'm focussing on the race and riding it. It's a little foretaste of Paris."
Hinze, meanwhile, had to settle for bronze. Another German medallist was veteran Roger Kluge, who won silver in the points race. For the 36-year-old, this is the seventh World Championship medal of his career.
German dominance comes to an end
But the highest decibel levels were measured in the velodrome of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines in the big sprint final. Friedrich tried everything, sometimes sprinting from the front, sometimes from behind, but it wasn't enough. As a result, the 22-year-old exceptional rider missed out on becoming only the second female cyclist after Anna Meares to win all four short-course titles.
Above all, however, Germany's dominance came to an end. Since the 2020 World Championships in Berlin, Hinze and Friedrich have shared all the sprint titles between them. The duo had only triumphed in the team sprint together with Pauline Grabosch on Wednesday. But Hinze in particular had a tough time throughout the sprint tournament, struggling from lap to lap. Against Gros, who was carried by the crowd, the World Championship dream was ended in three heats in the semi-finals.
Kluge also wins silver
Kluge was responsible for the first German medal of the day. 14 years after winning silver at the Olympic Games in Beijing, the 36-year-old also made it onto the podium in the points race for the first time at a World Championships. Kluge took second place after 40 kilometres with 67 points and was only beaten by Yoeri Havik from the Netherlands (76) on Friday. Third place went to the Belgian Fabio van den Bossche (64).
"It always feels good to be on the podium. A medal at international championships is nice for the collection and confirms that I can't be written off yet. I'm still riding at a good level," said Kluge. In the past few years, the Berlin rider had mainly focussed on the two-man team race. Kluge and Theo Reinhardt have won gold twice and bronze once there in recent years.
Kluge plays on experience
Kluge put all his experience to good use this time. He rode two laps in the final phase and also won the last sprint. "I had to attack at the end. It was still silver, tactically I don't need to criticise myself. I've always had a strong final, I showed that again. Experience, age, strength - that prevailed again," said Kluge.
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