German runner delivers monster kick to win European Championship marathon

On Monday afternoon at the European Championships in Munich, German marathoner Richard Ringer unleashed a finishing kick to win a surprise gold, sprinting the final 200m of the marathon to catch Maru Teferi of Israel at the line to win in front of the home crowd.

BBC commentators Paula Radcliffe and Steve Cram had even declared Teferi the 2022 European marathon champion with 400m to go, but Ringer had different plans, pulling off a sensational sprint finish. Watch his finishing kick in the Twitter video below and listen to the roar of the crowd.

What just happened!? ? Richard Ringer's sprinting finish wins Germany the gold in the Men's Marathon. The home crowd goes WILD!!#BackToTheRoofs #Munich2022 #Athletics #marathon

Catch more athletics here: https://t.co/6oSQKcmwR6
Outside of Europe: https://t.co/kEGlkyWUbJ pic.twitter.com/uGKSQ3gfny

— European Championships (@Euro_Champs) August 15, 2022

For much of the closing stages, Israel’s Teferi looked to have the race in the bag, but he ran out of energy, as Ringer’s stride lengthened to fly past Teferi on the inside, winning by two seconds in 2:10.21.

This was Teferi’s third marathon of 2022 and his second marathon in the last month. He finished 11th at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene in 2:07:59, which followed his 2:06:58 at the Seville Marathon in February.

What a finish! ?

Richard Ringer ?? charges through the field in the last kilometre to win European marathon gold on home soil in 2:10:21! ? #Munich2022 #BackToTheRoofs pic.twitter.com/00qKvjCB3R

— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) August 15, 2022

“My strength as a 5,000m runner helped me finish strong and ignore the heat,” Ringer told Athletics Weekly.

“It felt like the crowd me gave me wings with all the cheering,” says Ringer. “It helped.”

This was Ringer’s second career medal at a European Championships. He won his first medal over 5,000m in 2016 (in a crazy race that came down to a photo-finish).