What’s new from the HYLO^® Sport family 

Some of our #hyloathletes have been doing their utmost once again this week. We take a look back at the last seven days’ events and competitions featuring our athletes, teams and clubs.

HYLO^® athletes at the Summer Olympics in Paris

The hunt for medals and the battle for podium places has begun. From 26 July to 11 August 2024, Paris is hosting the Summer Olympics and dominating the world of sport in the global media. Some of our #hyloathletes are lining up to compete in France. These include triathlete Tim Hellwig and Germany’s top gymnasts.

Boris Nicolai’s trial run for Paris in Taipei

Saarland’s national boccia player Boris Nicolai will be competing in his second Olympics in Paris. Alongside Anita Raguwaran, he will be pursuing medals in Paris at the Paralympic Games at the end of August. On Monday, Boris and the national team flew to Taipei for the New Taipei City 2024 World Boccia Cup (23 July to 1 August 2024). After the start of the tournament was initially delayed by a severe typhoon in the area, the Saarland player managed to celebrate a successful trial run for the individual competition in Paris after finishing in fourth place in the BC4 class of this prestigious event. Boris’s winning streak was only brought to an end in the match for third place, where he was narrowly beaten by multiple Paralympic medal winner Yuk Wing Leung of Hong Kong in the tie break after a 4:4 scoreline. 

Boris Nicolai and his partner Nicole Michael will be competing in the pairs competition on Tuesday and Wednesday before returning to Saarland. 

Svenja Thoes shines in Alpe d’Huez 

Thursday (25 July 2024) saw France’s Triathlon Alpe d’Huez L 2024, with Saarland triathlete Svenja Thoes putting in an impressive performance to finish in second place.

The competition began with a 2.3-kilometre swim in a cold reservoir, which Svenja described as a ‘fight for survival’. Despite the challenges, she managed well against the other athletes and the cold to lay a solid foundation for the subsequent stages.

The next challenge was the 120-kilometre cycle with 3200 metres of climbing, ending on the legendary Alpe d’Huez at 1800 metres above sea level. Svenja struggled to get her heavy TT bike up slopes that often had gradients of more than 6%. She dropped back from second place into third on the final climb, but was not discouraged and took up the chase.

The final run covered 20 kilometres and 360 metres of altitude, split into three laps on the Alpe d’Huez. Despite four toilet breaks and utterly exhausted legs, Svenja battled on and gained ground on second place. In the last lap, she was finally able to close the three-minute gap and finish in second.

Svenja’s performance in this challenging competition demonstrates her determination and fighting spirit. We are enjoying seeing how she develops. Congratulations, Svenja!

Next stop in France for BIKE AID

BIKE AID’s professional cyclists are heading to their next major French race in the shape of the Tour de l´Ain. This race is held right next to the Vosges. Saarland’s professional cycling team were at the Tour Alsace from 24 to 28 July.

Together with the Tour de Bretagne, the Tour Alsace is one of the most important Continental races held in our neighbouring country. 25 teams, notably including the development teams from the major World Tour squads, took part. 

Vinzent Dorn, the climbing jersey winner from the Turkey tour, also took to the stage in the Vosges. He took the jersey for the most active rider and in the intermediate sprint rankings. The highlight was the main stage with a mountain finish on the Planche des Belles Filles. This climb has already been tackled six times by the Tour de France, and in 2022 was the setting for the final of the Tour de France Femmes.

Team BIKE AID was perfectly equipped for this mountain stage and ready to gain a top result. Unfortunately, there was a mass crash on a descent shortly before Col des Croix near Thillot, causing issues for all of the BIKE AID cyclists and having a major impact on the outcome of the stage.

Nevertheless, the Saarland team was one of the strongest teams in the race, finishing in fifth in the team rankings.

BIKE AID’s Tour de France continues on 13 August with the Tour du Limousin. The race will be broadcast on Eurosport, Discovery+ and France TV. 

Saarlouis Hornets sweep into the playoffs

Following two wins in their final game of the 2. Baseball-Bundesliga Süd-West 1 season on Saturday (27 July 2024), the Saarlouis Hornets have ended the main round in second place with 19 wins and 7 defeats.

A long list of injured and ill players means that the Saarland team took a rather unusual lineup into their final season game. With ‘Peedy’ Peter Mick as catcher and Jay Bueche at third base, however, Yannik Petry’s defence was very secure. The floodgates did not burst open for either team until the fifth inning. At a score of 1:1, however, the Hornets scored the deciding run at the perfect moment, ultimately giving them the first game 2:1 thanks to good defence. Youngster Jonas Grün particularly shone for the offensive wide with some great hits.

As Ivan Razvan was off with the Romanian national team, Peedy headed to the mound for the second game. Numerous errors by the Darmstadt side also allowed the Saarlouis team to dominate the match and ultimately score a clear 15:2 win. In a cohesive team performance despite difficult conditions, one element particularly worthy of mention was the return of Saarlouis’s youth coach Mike Heaney, who was able to prove to his young players that he can still keep pace with the best.

The two wins ensured that the Hornets are heading into the quarter-final playoffs as the best runner-up. Opponents and match dates will be announced once all teams have finished the main round in two weeks’ time. The Saarlouis Hornets finished the round with a pleasing haul of 19:7. 

Saarland’s baseball players now have a three-week break before they begin what will hopefully be a long journey through the playoffs to gain promotion to the 1. Bundesliga. Go Hornets! 

Füchse Berlin preparing with initial test matches

Last week saw the first two test matches for the handball players of Füchse Berlin. Both involved travel. The Berlin first-division handball team won the first test match of the new season against their Greifswald hosts 46:26. As well as providing coach Jaron Siewert with some initial insights, this also offered an impressive backdrop. 

This was a successful test match kick-off to the new 2024/25 season Füchse Berlin. The 46:26 win on Thursday (25 July 2024) against HC Vorpommern-Greifswald was just an added bonus. The fantastic mood in the sold-out 550-strong Mehrzweckhalle Schönwalde was much more impressive.

For the second test match of their season preparations, two days later Füchse Berlin travelled to Neukloster, with fun the order of the day. There was also a curious change of goalkeepers.

The balance of power was established quickly from a sporting perspective: by half time, the German championship runners up were already leading the regional league team VfL Blau-Weiß Neukloster 29:14, with the final score 52:33 to the visiting capital team. Competition was not the focus: ‘everyone had fun and no-one was injured’, was Füchse coach Jaron Siewert’s summary.

Sporting elements are not necessarily hugely important in a test match, as demonstrated by team coach Bernd Wagner’s brief appearance in goal. 

After the second successful test against a lower rated team, on Monday (29 July) the Füchse pros are heading to the Spreewald for a training camp. Their next friendly is then on Friday (2 August) against TSG Lübbenau.

We are looking forward to upcoming appearances from our #hyloathletes and wish all of our HYLO^® partners much luck and success.