Karina Schönmaier threw kissing hands into the audience and was beaming all over her face. The 19-year-old from Chemnitz won the vault title at the European Gymnastics Championships in Leipzig, celebrating her third medal after winning silver in the team and gold in the mixed event. With 13.983 average points for two vaults, she surpassed her 13.833 points as the best qualifier by another 1.5 points.
She scored 14.066 and 13.500 for her individual vaults. This is the first European Championship title for a German gymnast since Oksana Chusovitina in 2008. Bulgaria's Valentina Georgieva came second with 13.900 total points. Third place went to Lisa Vaelen from Belgium with 13.666.
Schönmaier had only moved from Bremen to Chemnitz after Gerben Wiersma took office in March 2022 and at his suggestion. He had said that she had to go to a national base because the conditions were much better. There are coaches there who work with her full-time, reported the Dutchman. "I am so happy about how she has developed," said Wiersma.
Upswing due to move to Chemnitz
The upswing is particularly visible on her showpiece apparatus, vault. After finishing fifth at last year's European Championships in Rimini, Italy, the 19-year-old has continued to hone her routine. One of the rewards for this was that she achieved the highest score of all 24 participants in the Leipzig qualification with an average score of 13.833 for her two jumps. She said her strength was her ability to jump.
Afterwards, the home European Championships turned into a dream experience for Schönmaier. The silver medal in the team all-around competition was followed by gold in the premiere of the mixed final together with Timo Eder (Ludwigsburg). "That's amazing," said the Chemnitz native, European champion sounds unrealistic, "but it's true".
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