This is the recap of the 2022 European Athletics Champs Marathons by David Monte of Race Results Weekly, with photos by Jane Monte, which we use with permission.
The European Athletics Championships marathoners were a big hit with the fans, television, and the athletes. The concerns about the heat and the mid-day starts, articulated by 1968 Olympian Manfred Steffney, gave some concern, but the performances and the level of the competition showed that for sports fans, it is all about the competition. A compelling race, with both sets of race medals coming down to the final meters.
By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2022 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved, used with permission
MÜNICH (15-Aug) — Poland’s Aleksandra Lisowska and Germany’s Richard Ringer won historic gold medals today in the marathon on the opening day of the 2022 European Athletics Championships here. Lisowska, 31, won the first-ever European marathon title for Poland in a nail-biting race where four women were still in contention for the medals in the final 50 meters. Ringer, 33, became the first German man to take the European marathon crown, sprinting past the tiring Maru Teferi of Israel in only the final 20 meters. In hot and sunny conditions, they were timed at 2:28:36 and 2:10:21, respectively, and both drew loud cheers from the thousands of spectators who lined the finish.
Lisowska, who co-holds the Polish marathon record of 2:26:08, was not a favorite to win a medal here today. Before today she had only broken 2:30 for the marathon once, and at last summer’s Tokyo Olympics, she only finished 35th in 2:35:33. She was so below the radar that her official athlete profile on the European Athletics website didn’t even have a photo.
But today, she ran a patient race, allowing others to do the leading until the time was right for her final move. She took advantage of the reasonable first-half pace of 1:14:33 to tuck in the pack and assess her better-known rivals like Portugal’s Sara Moreira, Germany’s Miriam Dattke, Netherlands’ Nienke Brinkman, Switzerland’s Fabienne Schlumpf, Italy’s Giovanna Epis, and Ireland’s Fionnuala McCormack. Indeed, it was not until the 30-K point, when the lead pack was down to 10, that Lisowska thought about asserting herself.
“From the start, I felt I was in total control of the race,” she said. “In fact, the first 30 kilometers were too slow for me, so I tried to attack the pace a bit so I could go…
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