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Johannes Ludwig: Gold for Germany
Photo:
Julian Finney/Getty Images
The time has come, the German Olympic delegation can look forward to
the first gold medal
at the Beijing Winter Games.
One of the big favorites was responsible: luger Johannes Ludwig.
The 35-year-old arrived as the World Cup winner and also dominated the four rounds.
In the Yanqing ice track, Ludwig had already set the track record in the first run and improved it again in the third round.
In the end he was 0.160 seconds ahead of second-placed Austrian Wolfgang Kindl.
The first German gold could have happened earlier, but nothing came of it: ski jumper
Karl Geiger
clearly missed out on the Olympic victory - and even the medals.
The World Cup leader was only 15th in the end, and Markus Eisenbichler, the six-time world champion, even missed the second round in 31st place.
The best German was Constantin Schmid in eleventh place.
The wind conditions during the competition were difficult: »It didn't grab me.
It's like a magnet on a slope, then you land,” said Geiger later.
The
winner Ryōyū Kobayashi
from Japan coped best with it.
He was also a favorite at the start: Kobayashi had recently won the Four Hills Tournament.
These days, some athletes' dreams are shattered not because of poor form or adverse weather conditions - but because of a positive corona test.
Nordic combiner
Eric Frenzel
is in isolation. In the meantime, his circumstances have improved somewhat, and the 33-year-old has moved into a new room.
The new room »fortunately has everything I need.
I have opportunities to do sports and the food is okay, «said Frenzel.
The national trainer of the combined athletes, Hermann Weinbuch, was also satisfied.
"Things have definitely improved," he said.
Frenzel now hopes to start on the large hill and in the team on February 15th and 17th.
The Australian curler
Tahli Gill fared
differently than Frenzel .
She had actually tested positive.
But a medical panel of experts gave the curler the go-ahead, according to the Australian team.
According to her own statements, she had to drive to the game in a hurry - and there she and her partner Dean Hewitt even won Australia's first curling victory at the Olympics.
“We put our heart and soul into this game.
Coming back with the win was really great,” Gill said after the 9-6 win against Switzerland.
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