What’s new from the HYLO® Sport family
Our #hyloathletes have been putting in strong performances 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 is in full swing. A few #hyloathletes have also been putting in impressive performances at the Paris Olympics.
Tim Hellwig wins relay gold
On Monday (5 August), Tim Hellwig won gold in Paris in the triathlon relay. This was a fantastic moment for the Saarland dweller, whose development we have been actively following for several years. It also offers some consolation for his eighteenth place in the individual competition, where Tim survived the ‘Seine adventure’ to finish as the top German, but had personally hoped for more.
Artistic gymnastics and trampolining complete in Paris
The German gymnastics team has already completed competitions in the artistic gymnastics and trampoline gymnastics disciplines in Paris. Helen Kevric, just 16 years old, impressed at the Paris Olympics. With two top-eight finishes, she has immediately established herself as one of the world’s best at her very first Olympic Games. The youngest competitor on Germany’s Paris team secured sixth place in the uneven bars final and a sensational eighth in the all-around final.
Parallel bars world champion Lukas Dauser may have missed out on a medal in the final for his flagship apparatus, but after injuring his upper arm he can be proud of finishing in seventh, as can his teammate Nils Dunkel who achieved eighteenth place in the all-around final.
Fabian Vogel, the only German competitor, finished in eleventh in trampoline gymnastics.
Germany’s gymnasts will be battling for medals in rhythmic gymnastics from 8 August onwards.
We will of course keep you updated on ALL EYES ON PARIS to make sure that you do not miss a thing. We are looking forward to some more exciting insights and emotional moments from Paris.
As well as the Paris Olympics, there have also been some other sporting highlights for the HYLO® Sport family
Silver and fourth place for Boris Nicolai at the World Cup in Taipei
Saarland’s national boccia player Boris Nicolai has returned from his Asian trip with two fantastic results. As his trial run for the upcoming Paralympics in Paris, the St. Ingbert native was able to gain competition practice at the New Taipei City 2024 World Boccia Cup (23 July to 1 August 2024).
He just missed out in the bronze medal in the BC4 class. Boris played his way through to the semi-final, but world number one Larpyen Pornchock of Thailand was too strong on the day and won the match 5:1. After very good play in the match for third place against multiple Paralympic medal winner Leung Yuk Wing of Hong Kong, Boris was only narrowly beaten with a 4:4 scoreline. Yuk Wing was able to win the deciding tiebreak.
Boris competed in the pairs competition with his partner Nicole Michael. In a group of five countries, they initially faced the strong teams from Thailand and Hong Kong. They put in a good performance against Thailand, still drawing after four sets. However, Thailand then won the tie-break. In the subsequent game against Hong Kong, their opponents played somewhat better and won 5:2.
In their third game, the German team faced hosts Chinese Taipei and were able to gain an impressive 12:0 victory. In the final game they played Japan, who had previously narrowly beaten Thailand. Nicole Michael and Boris Nicolai started strong and led 4:0 after two ends played. However, towards the end things became closer as a few inaccurate moves endangered the final result. The German pair ultimately secured a close 4:3 win.
In the end, Thailand, Japan and Germany all drew on points, but Germany came second behind Hong Kong on ball difference.
Unlucky home game for the Saarland Hurricanes
On Saturday (3 August 2024), the Saarland Hurricanes had to concede another defeat against the Allgäu Comets in their battle for playoff places in their erima German Football League (GFL) home game in the Völklingen Hermann Neuberger stadium. The game was intense and exciting right from the outset.
The Comets quickly took a 7:0 lead in the first quarter. The Hurricanes countered with a touchdown, but failed the two-point conversion to end up at 6:7. Another touchdown by the Comets took things to 6:14.
The Hurricanes began a promising drive in the second quarter, but it was brought to an abrupt end when intercepted by quarterback Keagi. A fumble in their own end zone resulted in another touchdown for the Comets, putting them 6:20 in the lead. The Comets increased this to 6:27 just before half time.
After the break, the Hurricanes came back fighting and quickly narrowed things to 14:27 with a two-point conversion. The Hurricanes’s defence did not allow any further points to be scored in the third quarter.
In the final quarter, the Hurricanes truly started their chase and narrowed the scoreline to 21:27. However, the Comets quickly responded to ensure a final score of 21:33. Despite all their efforts, the Hurricanes were not able to catch up any further.
This defeat puts a dampener on the Hurricanes’s playoff ambitions. On 10 August they face the Kirchdorf Wildcats, and will have to win to keep their playoff hopes alive.
SV Elversberg begin the new season with a draw
On Saturday (3 August 2024), SV Elversberg began their second 2. Fußball-Bundesliga season with a 0:0 draw. SVE travelled to Magdeburg to kick off the 2. Bundesliga’s 50th anniversary year. Horst Steffen’s team returned to Saarland from their first away game of the season with a goalless draw and a satisfied coach.
‘I wouldn’t say that it was fair, but it was fortunate for us. The first half was relatively evenly matched with lots of situations that we could have turned our way. If we had taken the lead, then perhaps this would have been a game that we could have won’, was Horst Steffen’s analysis after the game.
Read more in our post-match report.
Highs and lows for Gabriel Clemens at the Players Championship tournaments
From 31 July to 2 August 2024, Saarland darts pro Gabriel Clemens competed in the three-day block of Players Championship tournaments numbers 15, 16 and 17 in Milton Keynes (GB).
Clemens had a difficult start on the first day and was not able to progress further than the second round. His two games produced very different results. In the first match, he gained a clear 6:0 victory over Leighton Bennett, taking advantage of Bennett missing a double. However, in the second game Clemens had to make do with a 0:6 defeat to Luke Humphries, who put in a faultless performance.
Clemens then significantly improved his performance on day two for the 16th Players Championship: after a long wait, the German Giant once again reached a Pro Tour quarter-final. Clemens was particularly impressive in his defeat of Mickey Mansell, which he managed without a single check dart. He defeated Mickey Mansell, Chris Dobey and Jeffrey De Zwaan, before beating Dirk van Duijvenbode in the last sixteen. However, he lost to Karel Sedlacek in the quarter-final. Reaching the quarter-final puts the Saarland native a step closer to a spot competing in the World Grand Prix.
On the final day of his England trip, ‘Gaga’ was not able to replicate his performance from the previous day at the 17th Players Championship and had to leave the tournament in the first round after losing 2:6 to Brit Mervyn King. Overall, this was a weekend of highs and lows for Clemens.
Michael Ledermann wins crown in Burgdorf
At the Emmentalische Schwingfest in Burgdorf (CH) on Saturday (3 August 2024), with more than ten thousand spectators, 23-year-old Swiss wrestler Michael Ledermann was once again able to clinch a crown.
With three wins and three draws, the Swiss wrestler from Schwingclub Schwarzenburg gained a total of 56.25 points. In the fifth round, Michael fought for a possible final round, which would have required a win with a score of 10. However, the round ended in a draw.
Winning a crown means that Ledermann achieved his minimum goal, and ensured a satisfactory result given the strong competition from 195 Swiss wrestlers.