Emma Hinze clenched her fist, Lea Sophie Friedrich let out cheers. The German team sprinters gave the German team a golden start at the Super World Championships in Glasgow with a world record show.
Hinze, Friedrich and Pauline Grabosch raced on the wooden oval in the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome on Thursday for the fourth World Championship gold in a row and thus catapulted themselves into the role of favorites for the Olympic Games next year in Paris. Franziska Brausse rounded off the successful German start in the multi-event with silver in the 3000 meter individual pursuit.
China holt Bronze
Once again, you could rely on the German women’s track cyclists – especially the sprinters. In a heart-stopping final, Hinze and Co. triumphed in 45.848 seconds against host Great Britain, who had to admit defeat 75 hundredths of a second back. With their fabulous time they improved their own record from the previous year. China won bronze in the small final against the Netherlands.
“It’s so cool to do it for the fourth time in a row. And then with a world record, sometimes I can’t really believe it,” Hinze told ZDF and Friedrich added: “It’s amazing what we put on the track. Such a one Improvement is amazing. We can be super proud of ourselves.”
It was a close duel throughout the day. In qualifying, Great Britain was ahead by four tenths of a second, then the German trio struck back. In the final they didn’t let the victory be taken away from them.
This opens the hunt for gold for the sprinters who are used to success. For Friedrich it was already the eighth gold medal of her career, Hinze has seven titles. Kristina Vogel, who has been paraplegic since her training accident in 2018, is shattering the World Cup record. More medal chances await in the 500m, sprint and keirin.
Erfurter Klein ends up in sixth place
Brausse remains a guarantee of success, even if it wasn’t enough to defend the title in the individual pursuit. The 24-year-old from Eningen had no chance in the final over 3000 meters against the American world record holder Chloe Dygert, who even caught up with her German rival with a time of 3:17.926 minutes and returned successfully after an injury break. For Brausse, who won Olympic gold with the team in Tokyo in 2021, it was the fourth individual World Cup medal in a row in a single pursuit.
Lisa Klein from Erfurt took sixth place with a time of 3:25.728, Laura üßmilch (3:31.278) finished 14th, which gives hope for the team pursuit.
The track cyclists kicked off the first Super World Championships with around 8,000 athletes in 13 disciplines. Until August 13th, the World Championship titles on the road, in mountain biking and in BMX will also be awarded. But the competitions of indoor cyclists, trials specialists or downhillers, which are less in the spotlight, also have their stage.
The world association UCI wants to hold cycling world games with all its disciplines every four years. The only thing missing from the program is cross-cycling, traditionally a winter discipline. The highlight of the event is the men’s World Championship road race on Sunday.
