My favorite moment of the 2010 Barcelona European Championships was when Verena Sailer stormed to first place at the 100m dash. Since then, I've been a fervent supporter of Verena. Unfortunately, the German sprinter's performance have been hampered by injury.
The Helsinki European Championships was her first major international since her breakout win in Barcelona a couple of years ago. The German champion performed magnificently. Sailer notched a season's best of 11.14s in the 1st Round. Verena (11.17s) finished second in her semifinal, behind the fast-finishing Olesya Povh Олеся Повх (11.13s)of Ukraine.
Sailer, however, missed the 100m dash podium as she crossed the finish line in fifth place (11.42s).
But she did not leave Helsinki empty-handed.
The German 4x100m relay squad of Leena Gunther, Anne Cibis, Tatyana Lofamakanda Pinto, and Verena, demolished the opposition, stopping the clock in a European-leading time of 42.51s. The Dutch team was almost three-hundredths of a second behind the German victors, as a faulty baton exchange ruined the hopes of the favored Ukrainian quartet.
With their swashbuckling run in Helsinki, the Germans earned an outright ticket to London as the second-fastest team in the world this year.
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