Myriam Enmer Wins Women’s Singles World Championship

Myriam Enmer has been crowned the Women’s Singles Racketlon World Champion after beating Astrid Reimer-Kern in the final.

Enmer becomes the first French player to win an elite world championship gold medal after her sensational performance on Sunday morning.

Stine Jacobsen completed the podium after beating Zuzana Severinová in the bronze medal match.

Myriam Enmer is the New Women’s Singles World Champion

The final of a World Championships is new territory for Myriam Enmer. In just her second World Championships, the French star had beaten defending champion Stine Jacobsen and Bettina Bugl on her way to the final.

For Astrid Reimer-Kern, this was familiar territory. She was back in the World Championships final for a third time, after losing to Christine Seehofer in 2018 and Stine Jacobsen last year.

Myriam Enmer answered any questions about her final debut nerves early in the table tennis, racing ahead into a 6-1 lead. As the match progressed, Astrid Reimer-Kern began to claw her way back. Eventually, the two were tied once again with the score at 14-14. But then Enmer found a second wind. The French talent pulled ahead, dropping just one more point to win 21-15.

The badminton was a tight affair through the first half, with neither player able to pull ahead. The French star took the turn with a slender 11-9 lead before Reimer-Kern closed the gap to 11-10. Then, Enmer upped her game. The French player won the next six points to open up a seven-point gap. While Reimer-Kern managed to earn two more points, Enmer won 21-12 to establish a 15-point lead.

Astrid Reimer-Kern is one of Racketlon’s greatest ever squash players. The German demonstrated her skills with a ruthless 21-2 victory to swing the match. There was an incident late in the set with the score at 20-2. An accidental coming together on the court left Enmer with a split lip. Bleeding from the lip, the French player finished the set before going off to find some ice for her lip.

This led to some confusion early in the tennis set. With Enmer looking to patch up her bleeding lip she was a little bit late to the tennis court, earning her a code violation.

Despite those distractions, Enmer kept her focus. The No.4 seed played an extremely solid first half of the tennis, coping well with Reimer-Kern’s slice and making very few errors. At the halfway stage she led 11-3, and never dropped another point.

With the early lead established, Enmer began ripping winners. At match point, Reimer-Kern put a forehand into the tramlines and Enmer let out a roar of delight. Her status as Racketlon World Champion was confirmed.

It’s a beautiful moment for Enmer, who has had success in this venue before but never won a title. Two years ago she made her international debut here, reaching the final. A year later she participated in a Gummiarm Playoff after beating Zuzana Severinová but finished third. Now, she’s won on the biggest occasion.

She also goes down as the first French player to win an elite Racketlon World Singles Championship.

“I’m Really, Really So Happy”

Speaking to Austrian National television after the match, Enmer said “I don’t think I quite realise yet, but I’m really, really so happy. I think I’ll realise later.

“When I won the table tennis and the badminton I knew it was very good for me. I knew squash was going to be tough but I took some advantages and I knew it was really really big if I was going to tennis pretty equal.

“I got hit on my lip in the last point of the squash. I put some ice on it and then got a yellow card for being late for tennis. But it was okay, I managed it.

“I was a bit upset about the yellow card but I knew I had to focus on my game and I did.

“I think it was a very well organised tournament with the live-streamed final. My parents are watching me right now. It’s really well organised. I’ve been here twice before. I really like this venue and the Austrian Federations are really great with the organisation so thanks to them.

When asked how she planned to celebrate, Enmer said, “I don’t think I’ll be able to party too much. Tomorrow I need to work but we’ll see.”

The full results from the Holding Graz Women’s Elite Singles are available here.