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There has been plenty going on for the #hyloathletes over the past week. We take a look back at the last seven days’ events and competitions featuring our athletes, teams and clubs.
Waschi crowned ‘King of the Ice’ in Transylvania
Saarbrücken’s open water swimmer and English Channel world record holder Andreas Waschburger won two gold and two bronze medals at the European Ice Swimming Championship (2 to 4 February 2024) in Oradea, Romania. He set a new world record of 11:24.20 minutes in the 1,000m distance, the primary discipline for ice swimming, earning himself the title ‘King of the Ice’. The Saarland swimmer also set another world record in the 500m distance with a time of 5:32.72 minutes. In his third solo race, over 250m, ‘Waschi’ finished in third place (2:41.90 min.), giving him a podium finish in all three solo disciplines. He also gained a further bronze medal as part of the German mixed relay team for the 4 x 250m distance with a time of 11:50.50 minutes.
At a water temperature of 3.9 degrees Celsius, with no neoprene and in a ‘standard competition swimming costume’, Andreas Waschburger put in exceptional performances for the European title fights throughout the weekend in the 50-metre pool, once again demonstrating his huge strength of will and his ability to push himself to the limit.
Home win for SVE against the Red Devils in front of a record crowd
On Sunday (4 February 2024), SV Elversberg gained a vital 2. Bundesliga success at a prestigious home clash in the URSAPHARM arena against neighbouring Palatinate team 1. FC Kaiserslautern. After five matches without a win, the Saarland team were finally able to celebrate their first three-pointer of the new year with a 2:1 victory, rewarding their good performance. More details in our post-match report.
After the recent opening of the newly completed B stand at SVE’s home stadium, which is currently being renovated, the team under coach Horst Steffen were able to increase their points tally to 28 with a well-deserved home win in front of a record crowd of 11,150 spectators, moving them up to ninth place in the current 2. Bundesliga table.
This means that SV Elversberg will now be travelling to Düsseldorf with the wind in their sails for their away game against Fortuna on Saturday (10 February).
First win of the new year and top table position for 1. FCS Tischtennis
On the fourteenth day of play in the Tischtennis Bundesliga (TTBL) on Friday (20 February 2024), 1. FCS Tischtennis won their match against TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell 3:0 in front of a home crowd in the Joachim-Deckarm-Halle in Saarbrücken. The Saarland team’s first win of the new year, combined with a defeat for their closest competitors and long-term rivals Borussia Düsseldorf against Schwalbe Bergneustadt on Saturday, means that the top end of the league table has changed. FCS TT are currently sitting in first place in the federal league and are perfectly placed to secure an early place in the German championship playoffs.
Young Romanian Eduard Ionescu kicked things off by securing the first point for Saarland, beating Thibault Poret 3:2 in an evenly balanced match. The Saarbrücken team captain Patrick Franziska played next, with a safe three-set win that left no opportunities for opponent Ruwen Filus to secure a second point. The newly crowned Europe Top 16 winner Darko Jorgic then repeated this 3:0 result in his game against Fanbo Meng, securing the match for FCS Tischtennis.
The Saarbrücken players will be competing in their next Bundesliga home game next Friday (9 February) at 7 p.m. in the Joachim-Deckarm-Halle, against third-placed team TSV Bad Königshofen.
Yesterday’s draw for the Champions League final four in Saarbrücken over the Easter weekend set up a fantastic face-off for FCS Tischtennis: the Saarland team will meet TTC Neu-Ulm in the semi-final. The other semi-final sees Borussia Düsseldorf versus TTC Wiener Neustadt.
Crucial home win for proWIN Volleys in their battle to remain in the league
On Saturday evening (3 February 2024), the volleyball players of TV Holz celebrated a vital 2. Bundesliga Süd win on home turf at the Sportcampus Saar in Saarbrücken. This 3:1 win (25:21 22:25 25:21 25:17) over TV Planegg-Krailling gains proWIN Volleys three vital points in the fight to stay in the league.
As in the first half of the season, the Saarland players were able to beat the higher placed Bavarian team in a well-matched game and take home crucial points for their ultimately well-deserved win. The TV Holz MVP for the game was setter Mylana Byrd. The team under coach Sergej Danilov have jumped up to tenth place in the table with fifteen points, finally putting them out of the relegation zone after a long wait.
On Saturday (10 February), the Holz volleyball players are back out and about for an away game in Bavaria, against fifth-placed team TSV Unterhaching. This will be followed by three home games in front of a local crowd.
Saarlouis Royals secure playoff place
On Saturday (3 February 2024) the Saarlouis Royals basketball players were able to return to Saarland with a tight away win and two points under their belt. The Royals beat BC Pharmaserv Marburg, their close competitors in the 1. Damen-Basketball-Bundesliga, with a score of 71:75 (Q1: 18:13, Q2: 23:21, Q3: 19:17, Q4: 11:24).
In a game that the Hesse team led almost throughout, the Saarlouis basketball players under coach Dragana Svitlica were only able to turn the tide in the final quarter and narrowly clinch victory. Destiny Littleton again led the Royals scorer list with 25 points (5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 21 efficiency points), followed by Sylwia Bujniak with 12 points (4 of 5 three-pointers, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 1 steal, 12 efficiency points) and Isabelle Spingola with 11 points (1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 block).
This sees the Saarland side winning the third meeting between the two teams within seven weeks. The Royals took the first two encounters, one in the first half of the league season (73:67) and the other in the cup quarter final (69:79). With this away success, the Royals have confirmed their eighth place in the league table, entitling them to a place in the German championship playoffs. The Royals’ next game is on Sunday 18 February, after the international cap break. Their opponent will be Medical Instinct Veilchen BG 74, at 7 p.m. in the Stadtgartenhalle in Saarlouis.
Füchse Berlin secure a ticket to the REWE Cup Final4
On Sunday (4 February 2024), Füchse Berlin won a real cup clash against VfL Gummersbach 31:29 (16:13) in front of 7715 spectators in the Max-Schmeling-Halle, and thus celebrated entry into the REWE Final4 tournament for the German handball cup in Cologne (13-14 April 2024). Just one week after the end of the European Handball Championship in their native land, the capital club’s first game of the new year granted them access to the DHB cup final tournament. Berlin’s three medal winners Max Darj (bronze for Sweden), Mathias Gidsel and Hans Lindberg (both silver for Denmark) were honoured before the starting whistle.
As is so often the case, European championship runner up Mathias Gidsel was the best Berlin scorer with nine goals, whilst goalkeeper Dejan Milosavljev shone with sixteen saves, including four seven-metre throws. In a tight game that remained exciting right through to the end, Paul Drux was able to set Füchse back on the winning track with his second goal, putting the score at 30:29 with one minute remaining. Shortly after, Füchse and their many fans celebrated their progress to the cup Final4 with a final score of 31:29. This is the first time that the Berlin team have been in the final tournament since 2019.
Füchse’s next home game in Berlin will be on Thursday (8 February): at 8:30 p.m., they will be hosting the handball players of SG Flensburg-Handewitt for a rearranged match from the twelfth day of play in the LIQUI MOLY Handball-Bundesliga (HBL). Their away campaign then continues against HSV Hamburg on Sunday (11 February).
Early Masters exit for Gabriel Clemens
At the Masters in Milton Keynes (GB), the first major tournament of the year after the World Darts Championship, Saarland darts pro Gabriel Clemens was forced to admit defeat in the first round. Only the top 24 in the current Order of Merit world rankings after the World Championship were permitted to appear on the Masters starting line. At his third year in a row in this tournament, the German Giant faced Australian player Damon Heta to kick off the tournament on Friday (2 February 2024).
The German number one and current world number 22 lost his opening match 6:2 against the Australian, who is currently number 11 in the world. Despite a 99 average, the Saarwellingen player’s timing was off: the Australian only had one more successful attempt at a double than Clemens during the match, but it came at the perfect time for the man from Down Under.
Gabriel Clemens will be returning to the UK next week: on Monday and Tuesday (12-13 February) he will be competing in the Players Championship 1 and 2 events in Wigan (GB) to launch the tournament series.
Team BIKE AID back touring in Turkey
After some initial intensive training sessions and a successful start to the new road racing season with first place for Pirmin Eisenbarth at the circuit race on the expo site in Antalya, Saarland’s professional cycling team BIKE AID has been anything but idle in Turkey over the past week.
Before continuing with their next one-day race at the weekend (3 February 2024 – GP Apollon Temple – UCI 1.2), the team devoted their time to reconnaissance rides to prepare for the upcoming Tour of Antalya. These ‘reconnaissance rides’ are to thoroughly inspect key points of an upcoming stage, e.g. the finish line, the start of a climb, sharp bends, ascents, or the route facilities.
The one-day ‘temple tour’ race on Saturday then did not go entirely to plan for the team: unfortunately, Pirmin Eisenbarth and Antoine Berlin took a tumble in the peloton thirty kilometres before the finish, leaving the team without any breakaway riders for the slightly uphill final sprint in picturesque Manavgat. Despite this setback, Léo Bouvier fought his way to sixth place, although he could certainly have finished even higher. But there is no point in dwelling on ‘shoulda, coulda, woulda’: that is how the sport goes sometimes.
The team’s next opportunity to prove itself in competition will be on 8 February. This marks the start of the Tour of Antalya (8 to 11 February), the final highlight of the Turkey trip for this team from Saarland.
Team75 Motorsport gearing up for new challenges
Having ended its participation in DTM at the end of the 2023/24 season, Team75 Motorsport – the racing team run by Porsche brand ambassador and Le Mans winner Timo Bernhard – announced the team’s new strategic direction last week.
Team75 Motorsport will be putting two Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992 series) cars on the starting line of what is probably the brand’s most prestigious competition, the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany. In 2001, Timo Bernhard became at the time the youngest overall champion ever, and is now returning to the Carrera Cup Germany as a team owner. Team75 featured in Porsche’s oldest brand cup from 2013 to 2016.
Team owner Timo Bernhard is looking forward to returning to the team’s roots with Team75 Motorsport. His sister Jennifer Leising will be responsible for project management. Information on the driver line-up will follow soon.
We are looking forward to upcoming appearances from our #hyloathletes and wish all of our HYLO® partners much luck and success.