cycling: European Track Cycling Championships 2017: 2 x silver for Germany on day 1

Track cycling: On Thursday evening, 2017 spectators gathered in the Berlin Velodrom on Landsberger Allee on the first day of the decisions at the 1.600 European Track Cycling Championships. In total, new European champions were sought in six competitions. After all, the Germans can look forward to two silver medals.

Team sprint: 2 x silver for Germany

In the women's team sprint at the European Track Cycling Championships, Kristina Vogel and Miriam Welte started the race as co-favorites. As expected, the two qualified for the final. There it came to a duel against the current world champions from Russia. After a false start, they went full throttle for two laps. In the end Anastasiia Voinova and Daria Shmeleva were ahead with a time of 32,560. It was enough for Vogel and Welte to finish second in 32,807 seconds. The women from the Netherlands secured bronze.

The German men also made it to the final, where they lost to the French – but extremely close. The clock checked a time of 43.254 for Benjamin Edelin, Quentin Lafargue and Sebastien Vigier, while Germany's Robert Förstermann, Maximilian Levy and Joachim Eilers crossed the line after three laps at 43.337. Third place in the team sprint at the 2017 European Track Cycling Championships also went to the Netherlands.

Francia campeona de Europa de Velocidad por Equipos Masculino #EuroTrack17

1 France
2 Germany
3 Holanda#ciclismoenpista #cycling pic.twitter.com/L5xU5wAmpR

— ElGalibier (@ElGalibier) 19 October 2017

Team pursuit: women fall heavily - men miss bronze

Yesterday the women set a new German record in the 4.000 meter long team pursuit. They started their run against the British foursome tonight with a huge dose of motivation and self-confidence. But a few laps before the end, Lisa Brennauer, Charlotte Becker and Lisa Klein fell. All chances of winning a medal were gone. Instead, they then had to watch the final as the Italians won ahead of the Brits and Poles.

Lisa Brennauer: "I'm sorry. I rode too close to the rear wheel. It's a shame, there would have been a lot in it."
Charlotte Becker: "Lisa blames herself, but she doesn't have to."

Things went a little better for the men, even if they didn't win a medal. Felix Groß, Theo Reinhardt, Nils Schomber and Domenic Weinstein qualified for the bronze medal race. In the duel against Russia, however, they had no chance. The foursomes from Italy and France then fought for gold. It was the repeat of the final of the EM 2016. And this time the French were stronger. But it was significantly narrower. In the end the winning time was 3:55,780 against the Italian brand 3:55,986.

ARRIVA ANCHE UN ARGENTO! Liam Bertazzo, Filippo Ganna, Francesco Lamon and Simone Consonni battuti per 2 decimi dai francesi #EuroTrack17 pic.twitter.com/4DvXTjNrDf

- Eurosport IT (@Eurosport_IT) 19 October 2017

Elimination & Scratch: Wild celebrates title defense - Garel cries with joy

Romy Kasper represented Germany in a knockout for the first time in her career at the start of a European Championship, but dropped out in seventh place. The Dutchman Kirsten Wild, on the other hand, managed to defend the title ahead of the Russian Evgenia Augustinas and the Italian Maria Giulia Confalonieri. There were also no medals for the German-speaking professionals in the men's scratch. The Frenchman Adrien Garel triumphed, who burst into tears of joy at the award ceremony. He successfully left Hungary's Krisztian Lovassy and Ukraine's Roman Gladysh behind. The German starter Lucas Liss could not intervene in the fight for the medals.

L'emotion d'Adrien Garel on the podium ! Beau moment! #EuroTrack17 pic.twitter.com/z9W4DkQ3t1

— Mathilde L'Azou (@MathildeLAzou) 19 October 2017

European Track Cycling Championships 2017: All medal winners from Day #1 at a glance