Yannik Angenend delivered a great competition at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
Lengdorf/Zhangjiakou – In the end, the 21-year-old from Lengdorf came 13th out of 32 participants in the snowboard parallel giant slalom: "I'm very happy with that," the German cheered afterwards.
In qualifying, there were two runs on the demanding slope – one each on the red and blue sections – to make it into the top 16.
That worked very well for the young Lengdorfer, in contrast to his German colleagues.
The disappointment was huge, especially for Stefan Baumeister (18th), as he was considered one of the favorites.
Angenend said about his qualifying runs: "I tried to complete them safely." With a 13th place, he confidently made it into the finals, in which in the knockout system one run was decisive for progress or elimination.
In the round of 16, Tim Mastnak from Slovenia faced a tough challenge for the man from Lengdorf.
"My nervousness increased significantly before the finals, but it was still within limits," said the 21-year-old.
After the start he drove pretty well, said Angenend.
“I was able to concentrate very well on my run.
Unfortunately, I then made a small mistake on the last crest.” This was ultimately the decisive factor, the Slovenian prevailed with a narrow gap of 0.27 seconds.
That was the end for the Lengdorfer, who finished 13th in the end.
His Slovenian opponent in the round of 16, on the other hand, later made it onto the podium and took silver behind Austria's Benjamin Karl.
Yannik Angenend's summary after the most important competition of his career so far: "I'm super happy that I reached the finals at all." A successful competition for the 21-year-old, who is now the best German snowboarder in the Olympic parallel giant slalom may name.
The man from Lengdorf didn't have any big plans for the rest of the day on Tuesday evening: "Today we certainly don't do much together because we don't really have anything to celebrate." for the men, Ramona Hofmeister was considered a medal candidate for the women – but she was eliminated in the quarter-finals.
"Maybe we'll sit down a bit and talk about our competitions," Angenend said, adding: "In any case, it was a great experience for me to be here.
Unfortunately, the whole thing was dampened a bit by Corona.” He and his teammates will stay in China for a few more days before the next competition in Georgia is on the agenda after the flight home on February 11th.