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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Robert Hynes

Germany's Konstanze Klosterhalfen thanks Sonia O'Sullivan after gold medal win at European Athletics Championships

Konstanze Klosterhalfen thanked Sonia O'Sullivan after winning gold in the women's 5000m final at the European Athletics Championships in Munich.

The German was full of praise for her coach after beating Turkey’s Yasemin Can, the 10,000m champion on Thursday evening.

Klosterhalfen clocked a time of 14:50.47, with Can coming second with a time of 14:56.91, while Eilish McColgan claimed bronze for Great Britain with a time of 14:59.34.

READ MORE: Watch: Rhasidat Adeleke's beaming interview after setting Irish 400m record in European final

The gold medal winner got Covid-19 in June and didn't even make the final at the World Championships last month, but was in much better shape coming into the Euros.

Praising O'Sullivan after her win, Klosterhalfen told RTE: "Thank you Sonia so much. I send you lots of love and I'm so happy.

"We all won the title together."

She added: "This is so special for me. I'll see you soon and thank you so much."

O'Sullivan, who has coached the German since June 2021, believes running on home soil really helped 'Koko'.

She stated: "We know Koko's super talented and she's won a bronze medal at the World Championships but she hasn't run anything like that in a long time.

"I think it was (the secret) being in Munich with the home crowd behind her.

"She hasn't finished so strong in a race all year.

"You could see the emotion at the end, how much it meant to her."

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