Gesa Krause earns gold medal post-pregnancy.
How amazing: After a six-year hiatus since winning the European Championship title in Berlin, Gesa Krause has made her way back onto the podium at the European Championships. In Rome, she ran to a silver medal after her maternity break, but later became the champion when the first-placed runner was disqualified.
Gesa Felicitas Krause kneeled down, then a smile spread across her face: The German hurdler completed her comeback after her maternity leave with an incredible performance over 3000 meters - and eventually won the gold medal. The German top athlete ran in the championships in Rome in 9:18.06 minutes as second, but was later promoted to first place due to the disqualification of the Frenchwoman Alice Finot (9:16.22) for stepping on a lane marker twice at the last water jump. The German Athletics Association's (DLV) protest was successful.
This is Krause's fourth European Championship medal after her triumphs in 2016 and 2018 as well as a bronze in 2012. Elizabeth Bird (Great Britain, 9:18.39) secured second place in the new ranking, followed by the Romanian Stella Rutto (9:22.36). Lea Meyer, who had surprised as third in Munich two years ago, finished eighth (9:27.85), and Krause's club colleague Olivia Gürth from Trier (9:31.98) rounded off the extraordinary German result in tenth place.
"A silver medal was still missing in my collection. With my history, this is like a win for me, even though gold was almost there today. This has been the most beautiful year of my life, and now I'm proud of how I ran," Krause exclaimed to the ARD microphone while still anticipating a silver medal. Expert Frank Busemann described Krause's medal as "crazy."
After Amanal Petros' third-place finish in the half marathon and the silver and bronze medals by the DLV teams over the half marathon distance, the championships were slowly gaining momentum from a German perspective. Prior to the third competition day, the German Athletics Association could only cheer for a bronze medal through Yemisi Ogunleye in the shot put at the Italian festivities in Rome.
That "Mama Krause" is a key factor was already evident before her return to the big stage. At her first competition after the birth of her daughter Lola last year, the two-time world bronze medalist immediately surpassed the Olympic qualifying standard - her primary goal this year. As the fastest runner of the year, she traveled to Rome, but didn't want to set high expectations. "Everyone would like to hear that Gesa Krause is a mother and is back - and will become European champion as if she had never been away. That sounds great to me, but it's not that simple. She made it look easy."
Petros also hoped for a gold medal in the morning. He appeared as the second to enter Olympic Stadium, but then moved to the track boundary and eventually ceded both positions to the eventual European champion Yemaneberhan Crippa and his countryman Pietro Riva. "We pushed each other as a team. That was extraordinary. I lacked a bit of speed at the end," Petros said to the ARD, who finished fourth in the marathon two years ago in Munich without any accolades.
Meanwhile, Germany's hammer thrower Merlin Hummel set a European U23 record, but couldn't achieve the first German EM medal with 79.25 meters since 18 years ago. However, 200m sprinter Joshua Hartmann can look forward to a podium finish, which he reinforced with his victory in the semi-finals in 20.38 seconds. The winner will be decided on Monday.
