World record flood, team sprint trio ruins gold dream
The German sprint queens, Pauline Grabosch, Emma Hinze, and Lea Sophie Friedrich, win bronze at the Olympic Games. Despite setting a world record at one point, their gold mission fails, but they decisively win the bronze medal race against the Netherlands.
No gold, just a valueless world record: The German sprint queens left their open score with the Olympic Games unsettled and experienced a bitter disappointment instead of the crowning of their successful era in the team sprint. Emma Hinze, Lea Sophie Friedrich, and Pauline Grabosch missed the gold final despite setting a world record and had to settle for bronze. After winning four consecutive world titles and clearly aiming for gold, this was little consolation.
The reigning world champions from 2020 to 2023 won the bronze medal race against the Netherlands in 45.400 seconds. Britain won gold, again with a world record, and New Zealand took silver.
"I hope they take this with them into the next disciplines. They've achieved a medal, maybe not the one they wanted, but it shouldn't be belittled," said Kristina Vogel on ZDF. The London Olympic champion is working as a TV expert in Paris.
The top spot on the podium was what the German team had aimed for. "The girls are going for gold. All measures were geared towards that," said national coach Jan van Eijden.
Shock follows world record
After a solid qualification (45.644), Hinze and co. also stepped up their game and confirmed their ambitions. In their first-round win against Mexico (45.377 seconds), the Cottbus team improved the British women's world record set just before them on the fast and newly renovated wooden oval.
However, instead of the seemingly secure gold final, there was shock: First, New Zealand (45.348) and then Britain (45.338) improved again and pushed the German trio off the top two spots. Hinze and Friedrich looked stunned on the track. Grabosch, who unlike Hinze and Friedrich is not competing in the sprint and keirin, put her face in her hands and mourned the only gold chance at her Olympic debut.
Hinze experienced a painful déjà vu. The 26-year-old had traveled to Tokyo three years ago as a triple world champion and left without an Olympic title. In Paris, revenge is to be had. However, the team sprint offered the greatest chance.
In the men's team sprint, Luca Spiegel, Maximilian Dörnbach, and Stefan Bötticher qualified seventh in 43.009 seconds. The first round will be held on Tuesday. In the men's team pursuit, Tobias Buck-Gramcko, Roger Kluge, Theo Reinhardt, and Tim Torn Teutenberg finished ninth (3:50.083 minutes) and were eliminated. The focus in the men's endurance events in Paris is on the Madison, where Kluge and Reinhardt aim for a medal.
Despite setting a new world record in the team sprint, the German sprint queens, Emma Hinze, Lea Sophie Friedrich, and Pauline Grabosch, were left in shock as they missed out on the gold final and had to settle for a bronze medal race against the Netherlands. Despite their bronze victory, winning this medal was little consolation for the team, as they had aimed for the top spot on the podium.
During the team sprint event, Hinze and her teammates improved the British women's world record set before them, but their gold medal aspirations were shattered when New Zealand and Britain improved further and pushed the German trio off the top two spots.
