Across Germany for a good cause: 16-year-old Denis Holub from Breisach am Rhein finished his charity run on Sunday evening. In 16 days, he ran from Freiburg to Hamburg to collect donations for the children's charity Mary's Meals. Holub's distance of a good 1200 kilometers raised more than 30,000 euros. The young long-distance runner covered an average of 1.7 marathons per day. Now that's an ambitious project for the summer vacations!
The ski mountaineer and touring ski pioneer Benedikt Böhm from Munich has been committed to environmental protection for years with his expeditions. Now the 45-year-old has set off for Nepal as a WWF ambassador for the speed skiing campaign to draw attention to grievances with the "Expedition Himalaya". The population of rare animals is dwindling - for example, the Nepalese tiger. Starting from a base camp at 4850 meters, Böhm wants to climb the Himlung Himal together with mountain guide Prakash Sherpa and descend the 7126 meters with touring skis - in less than eight hours. This is how the 45-year-old promotes the WWF projects he supports with his new Helping Band brand. 100 percent of the proceeds from the sale of the bracelets go to nature conservation and environmental protection.
Nine hours, 23 minutes and 28 seconds - with this new best time Jon Sæverås Breivold wins the Norseman Xtreme Triathlon. The annual competition held in Norway is considered one of the toughest in the world, the images are impressive. Among the highlights was the victory of Scotland's Eilidh Prise in the women's competition. The 26-year-old crossed the finish line in tears after swimming 3.8 kilometers through 13°C Fjord water and braving wind and weather for 180 kilometers on the bike and 40 kilometers on the run. "It wasn't about winning for me. It was about survival," is how the winner describes this extreme experience.
Ramla Ali is an exceptional talent in many respects: In the early 1990s, she fled with her family from Somalia to London, where she later took up boxing rather by chance. On her way to becoming the first Somali professional boxer in history, she overcame countless hurdles and continually uses the headlines for her fight against racism and misogyny. In the course of her unprecedented career, the Muslim powerhouse founded the non-profit initiative The Sisters Clubto give female minorities access to sports, helped build a boxing federation in Mogadishu, and chronicled the most important fights of her life under the title "Not Without a Fight." Most recently, the 32-year-old won the competition in Saudi Arabia and used her participation in the controversial competition for her fight for women's rights.
At the European Championships in Rome, David Popvici set a new world record: The 17-year-old Romanian swam 100 meters freestyle in a best time of 46.86 seconds. Before that, Brazilian César Ziel Filho had held the record for 13 years, breaking the 47-second mark for the first time at the 2009 World Championships, but he swam the best time in a high-tech full-body suit, which were banned immediately after the World Championships because more than 100 world records had been set in them in a very short time. We are simply impressed by the 17-year-old's performance!
Gina Lückenkemper is the fastest woman in Germany: At the finals of the European Championships in Munich, the track and field athlete broke the magic barrier of 11 seconds and ran to the European Championship title over 100 meters in 10.99 seconds. The fans were briefly worried when she crossed the finish line: Amid tears of joy, the new European champion stumbled, fell and had to have eight stitches in her knee in the evening. On arrival at the hotel, however, she was already feeling well again, as she told Der Spiegel: "I'm overjoyed and can't believe it all yet."
Already at the start of the European Championships, the German participants caused goose bumps in the Olympic Stadium: Elisabeth Seitz and Emma Malewski won their European Championship titles on uneven bars and balance beam. Both victories came unexpectedly, even for the gymnasts themselves. In the interview after the award ceremony, Seitz burst into tears. Malewski congratulated, remained cool and then surprisingly won her gold medal on the balance beam without any major slip-ups. Pure goose bumps!
