Grabusch, Hines and Friedrich won the team race

By Peter Maurer

Always on Victory Road – Runners About Pauline Grabush, Emma Haines and Leah Sophie Friedrich | Photo: Cor Vos

02/24/2023 | (rsn) – At the Nations Cup in Jakarta, Pauline Grabusch, Emma Haines and Leah-Sophie Friedrich celebrated four consecutive victories on the international stage. After two titles at the European Championships and a gold medal at the World Team Sprint Championships in Paris, the German trio also remained undefeated in Indonesia at the first track World Cup of the season in the discipline.

In the grand final, they beat the Chinese who had won the qualification a few hours earlier, in 46.613 seconds. There the German trio only finished fifth, with Alessa-Catriona Propster replacing Friedrich at the European Championships in Grenchen. But Germany then confirmed their superiority in this discipline, beating France in the first round and confidently qualifying for the final with the fastest time.

While Germany had no problem against the French team with individual world champions Mathilde Gross and Take-Marie Devine-Kwame from the start, the Chinese players, who beat Heinz and Frederick at the Olympics in Tokyo, put the German team under pressure. It was not until the last lap at the wheel of Friedrich that the world and European champion took the lead and won the duel for tenth place. Great Britain beat the Netherlands in the minor final.

Australia take part in the men’s team event

On the men’s side, Stefan Bottischer, Nick Schroeter and Maximilian Dornbach finished sixth. They were unlucky in the playoffs, they finished fifth, then in the first round they met European champions Holland, who only took fourth place in the playoffs. The German trio had no chance in this duel, while the Netherlands, led by three-time European champion Harry Lavraysen, qualified for the final. But in this case they were beaten by Australia, who had previously set the fastest time on the wooden track in the preliminary round. France won the mini-final against Japan.

In the team pursuit, after Thursday’s preliminary round, the first round and final awaited – but without Germany’s participation, after the women’s and men’s quartet failed to reach the quarter-finals in Jakarta. The four fastest teams in the preliminary round were the fastest in round one, with France and New Zealand advancing to the Grand Final while Great Britain and Australia battled for third place.

In Friday’s two qualifiers, New Zealand along with Michaela Drummond, Alli Wollaston, Briony Botha and Emily Sherman were the fastest of the four, and with their final time of 4:08.440 minutes they came within four minutes. seconds off the world record set by Germany. ahead of the 2021 Olympics. France finished second to England, who beat Australia in the minor final. Behind them, Ireland finished fifth in a new national record ahead of Japan and Canada. The Italian world champion was only in eighth place.

The Danish quadruple, Hashimoto and Wollaston won the elimination race

In the men’s team, the first victory of this year’s Nations Cup was when the team caught up with Denmark, who beat New Zealand in the grand final. In the end, the difference between the two quadrants is seven tenths. Great Britain finished third, ahead of Australia. France finished fifth, ahead of Belgium, Canada and Japan.

Along with the elimination races, there are also two individual endurance events on the program for the second day of competition in Indonesia. On the women’s side, Allie Wollaston of New Zealand beat Nie Evans of England and Marit Raijmakers of the Netherlands. German champion Lena Charlotte Reisner was in seventh place and Swiss tennis player Lena Mitro in tenth. On the men’s side, Iya Hashimoto of Japan beat Jules Hesters of Belgium and Yuweri Havick of the Netherlands. Théo Reinhart was seventh.