- Team sprint trio: only Olympic gold is still missing
Over the weekend, Emma Hinze and her teammates relaxed in camping chairs by the roadside, cheering on their German colleagues in a cycling race. A final chance to unwind before the serious business of the Olympic Games begins. Today, the highlight of the track cycling events in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines awaits: the team sprint. "We know we've always won the World Championships. That's still our goal," says Hinze.
Hinze, Lea Sophie Friedrich, and Pauline Grabosch have won the World Championship title in the team sprint four times in a row, dominating the competition. The only time they weren't first was at the Olympic Games in Tokyo three years ago. "At first, we thought we'd lost gold. We were disappointed," recalls Hinze, but she adds, "Now we say we won silver."
This time, they're aiming for gold. There's no room for complacency. "The level has definitely increased. In qualifying, we're all so close. The margins are tiny," says Friedrich, echoing recent news from China.
China set a new world record before the Olympics
At the end of June, Germany's biggest rivals set a new world record at the China Track League in Luoyang. Yufang Guo, Shanju Bao, and Liying Yuan clocked 45.478 seconds, nearly four tenths of a second faster than the German trio's World Championship-winning time in Glasgow last year. That's likely to be the benchmark for gold in the velodrome. "You almost have to set a new world record every time to be at the front," says Hinze.
After the team sprint, Hinze and Friedrich will become rivals again in the individual sprint and keirin events. "There's competition among us, but that's normal. We also find a way to come together," says Friedrich. In the team sprint, harmony is key to their dream of gold.
Despite the pressure from their Chinese rivals, who have set a new world record, Emma Hinze and her teammates remain determined to regain the gold medal in the team sprint they lost at the Olympic Games three years ago in Tokyo. After their successful performances in the World Championships, they aim to outperform their previous record and secure their place at the top in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.
Following the team sprint event, Hinze and Friedrich will switch gears and compete against each other in individual sprint and keirin events. Despite the rivalry, they maintain their unity, understanding that a harmonious team dynamic is crucial to their shared goal of achieving victory.
