Cycling: The BDR was able to celebrate again on the last day of the European Railway Championships in Guadeloupe, in the Caribbean. Joachim Eilers from Chemnitz and Kristina Vogel from Erfurt secured gold in the keirin. Mieke Kröger rounded off the good performance of the German team with silver in the women's individual pursuit, as did Anna Knauer with bronze in the omnium.
Eilers confidently prevailed against the assembled competition in the keirin final. The 24-year-old from Chemnitz relegated Matthijs Buchli from the Netherlands and Denis Dmitriev from Russia in the final and secured his second title at this European Championship after winning gold in the team sprint.
In the women's category, reigning world champion Kristina Vogel lived up to her role as favorite and prevailed in the final against Elena Brezhniva from Russia and Shanne Braspennincx from the Netherlands.
Mieke Kröger was able to convince over 3.000 meters. In the final, she was only beaten by Briton Katie Archibald after 3:42,153 minutes. Vilija Sereikaite from Lithuania took third place.
Ann Knauer was also happy about precious metal. In the women's omnium, she finished third after the last race and was beaten only by Laura Trott from Britain and Jolien D'Hoore from Belgium.
Theo Reinhardt and Leon Rohde, who finished fourth in the Madison, just missed out on a medal. This was partly due to the surprise coup by the Austrians Andreas Müller and Andreas Graf, who were the only team to complete a lap. Despite being a few points behind, they relegated Belgium's Kenny de Ketele and Otto Vergaerde, as well as France's Vivien Brisse and Morgan Kneisky.
Overall, the BDR won three titles at the European Championships in Guadeloupe. In addition, there are several silver and bronze medals in the short-term as well as in the endurance area. With the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in mind, this is a very good sign.
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