Speedster Lukas Knapp wins Austria’s third gold at Krakow-Malopolska 2023

The European Games Krakow-Malopolska 2023 awarded their second gold medal in Sport Climbing tonight, at the end of a thrilling men’s Speed final.

Austria’s Lukas Knapp signed his first-ever international win after beating France’s Marceau Garnier in the final race of the event. The 26-year-old Austrian specialist pocketed gold with the time of 5.89 seconds, after previously upsetting home favourite Marcin Dzienski of Poland in the semi-final, also recording his new personal best of 5.73.

In the other semi-final, Garnier won the access to the gold medal race following a false start from his teammate Pierre Rebreyend.

In the bronze medal race, Dzienski won Poland’s second European Games medal in Sport Climbing, besting his French rival in an extremely close final and adding a bronze to the gold won by Natalia Kalucka in the women’s Speed event.

Dzienski took bronze with 5.46 seconds, against Rebreyend’s 5.50.

Sport Climbing competitions at the European Games Krakow-Malopolska 2023 will continue tomorrow with the men’s and women’s Lead finals, starting at 20:00 (UTC+2:00), while the programme will open with the two Boulder semi-finals – the men’s one starting at 11:00, and the women’s one starting at 14:30.

European Games Krakow-Malopolska 2023 is the Europe’s biggest multidisciplinary sporting event in 2023. More than 7 thousands athlete are competing in 26 sports and 29 disciplines for 253 gold medals. More than that, European Games 2023 are part of the qualification process for the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 in 19 sports. This great celebretion of sports starts with opening ceremony in Krakow on 21st of June. The closing ceremony will take place on July 2nd.