Carbonara after coup: Teenage team celebrates European Championship silver medal

Shining faces, glittering medals and bright prospects: in the midst of a smouldering scandal surrounding allegations of abuse, five teenage girls have ensured unprecedented success for German women's gymnastics at the home European Championships in Leipzig. Young star Helen Kevric, Karina Schönmaier, Janoah Müller, Silja Stöhr and Lea Marie Quaas celebrated the silver medal in the team competition.

The quintet, whose average age is just 17.8 years old, thus trumped bronze at the 2022 championships in Munich - the first ever European Championship medal in the women's team all-around competition. "I really have goosebumps all over my body, I'm still shaking and still have a gut feeling, everything is fluttering," said Karina Schönmaier.

The Chemnitz native, who like her club colleague Quaas is 19 years old, also drew a comparison with the previous home European Championships. "When I look back, they came third in Munich. Now we're a very young team and we've come second. That makes me very proud," said the team captain.

Only defending champions Italy were better

The celebrations afterwards were comparatively unspectacular. "We're having spaghetti carbonara tonight because that's what our chef asked for. He always asks nicely," said Helen Kevric. The gymnasts' parents then joined them.

On the podium, the surprise runners-up jumped and danced exuberantly, national coach Gerben Wiersma proudly raised his winning fist. It was unforeseeable for the gymnasts themselves that the team of young gymnasts with 158.396 points would only be beaten by defending champions Italy (161.930) and finish ahead of France (156.728).

"Our whole team didn't expect to take home a silver medal here. It's just an amazing feeling to have achieved something like this," said 17-year-old Janoah Müller. Her team-mate Schönmaier admitted: "I didn't think we'd make it to second place."

Finger in the wound

Even Kevric, who despite also only being 17 years old usually seems surprisingly serene, hadn't thought of such a coup. "I didn't expect it at the beginning either. But it shows that we can keep up as a team," said the Stuttgart player.

But it was also she who put her finger in the wound in the hour of success. The allegations of abuse at the Stuttgart Artistic Gymnastics Forum that became public at the end of last year meant that she had lost the coaches who had led her to eighth place in the all-around and sixth place on the uneven bars at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. She reiterated that she was not a victim of abuse and had always had a good relationship with her coaches. "I'm sad that it ended like this. That's why the medal is also a bit for them, because they are behind the hard work," said the German all-around champion.