European Championships U23 Anadia

Bronze medal at the Elite EM Shorttrack for Kira Böhm

Right at the start of the Junior European Championships in Anadia, Portugal, Kira Böhm from Weilheim from the Cube Next Generation XC Team from Schwäbisch Hall ensured a great success: the 20-year-old student secured the bronze medal in the elite short track race behind the Swiss defending champion Ronja Blöchlinger and her compatriot Noelle Buri.

Böhm was initially able to keep up with the leading group on a greatly simplified course, but when Blöchlinger and Buri attacked with three laps to go, she was too far behind to follow them. "In the beginning, the race was actually quite relaxed," reported Böhm at the finish. "But then I suddenly missed the connection.

There was a small gap immediately, Böhm was trapped and initially couldn't break away. While the two Swiss raced towards victory together, Böhm seemed to be stuck in fourth place behind French Noemie Garnier. But on the last lap, Garnier pulled away and Böhm was able to catch her a few hundred meters from the finish. When Garnier also slipped on the loose gravel in the finish corner, the way was clear for Böhm's first European Championship medal. “The track suits me well”, she said with a smile: “It was definitely a good start!” On Friday she will compete in the mixed relay before the Olympic distance race awaits her on Sunday as the highlight.

Sunday at the XCO, Kira Böhm also got off to a good start. Consistently in the top 10, the woman from Weilheim was well on the way to another top placement this year. She was on course for 6th place until the last lap, before an opponent brought her down and she lost important positions. The forces were no longer enough to catch up, but the woman from Weilheim was able to keep her place in the top 10 and cross the finish line in tenth place. Congratulations!

With the German Team Relay, she finished 6th the day after the short track success.