by Larry Eder
This is RunBlogRun’s daily reminders of the big moments of the day, and this is our thoughts on Day one. The European Athletics Championships is a part of nine sports championships in Munich, Germany. On the opening ceremony, there were 55,000 fans in the Munich Olympic stadium.
The German crowds have been very supportive of all athletes, and of course, they cheer on the German athletes, but that is to be expected. In no session did we hear or see unsportsmanlike comments or cheering by fans.
The first day had marathons, shot puts and the women’s 10,000 meters, plus day one of the decathlon, something for everyone.
Stuart Weir did some highlights on day four and day five, so RunBlogRun is doing the same for days 1-3. We hope that you like it.
Five Deep Thoughts on Day One of the 2022 European Championships
1. In the first medal event, Aleksandra Lisowska of Poland made herself hurt upfront, breaking open the race. Matea Kostro Parlov of Croatia sprinted like crazy over the last kilometer to take silver and miss gold by seven seconds! Nieke Brinkman and Miriam Dattke had the same time; Brinkman takes the bronze in the women’s marathon.
2. No one could have planned the Men’s marathon finish. Maru Tefari, ISL, had taken 11th in the World Champs marathon just three weeks before. He thought that he had won the marathon, and he should; he was just 100 meters from the finish. But, Nooo! Richard Ringer, 2016 EAC bronze at 5,000, 2017 EAIndoors bronze at 3,000m, outsprinted Tefari for the gold, with Gashau Ayale, ISR took the bronze.
3. Jessica Schilder, NED, took gold in the Women’s shot put with a European leading 20.24m. Auriol Dongmo took silver and tried to get Schilder heck she set an NR in the shot put and Jorinde Van Klinkden, NED, gave her country a second medal in the women’s shot put.
4. In the Men’s shot put, Filip Mihaljevic of Croatia took the gold from Armin Sinancevic, SRB in the second attempt. In the final attempt, Mihaljevic put the icing on the cake, going to EL 21.88m. Tomas Stanek, CZE, went by Nick Pozio of Italy with a throw of 21.26m.
5. At seven kilometers, Yasemin Can of Turkey went off and made a game run to win, and she did, taking gold in the 10,000m, giving her a second gold in the 25 lappers where she had won in 2016. Eilish McColgan took silver, her third medal in global champs this season, and a gutty race. Lonah Salpeter, came back from a bronze in the World Champs marathon and took the bronze in the Women’s 10,000 meters!
And finally, a great crowd on the road courses and a fine crowd of nearly 30,000 in the Olympic stadium on the first day. A bank holiday in Germany helped, and so did German beer and German food, but mostly, the nine sports European Championships helped build up the European Athletics Champs!
