Olympia 2022: That was day eight in Beijing

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The German cross-country skiers are happy about silver

Photo: PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU / AFP

After the Winter Games in Pyeongchang 2018 without a medal,

redeemed

the German

and anchor

secured the silver medal behind the quartet from Russia, bronze went to Sweden.

"I'm proud that we rocked it today," said Hennig later.

Germany's best cross-country skier had even put the team in the lead as the second of four runners, but in the end the Russians were too strong on the Zhangjiakou track.

Karl Geiger

himself was perplexed when he was asked to

analyze his performance on the ZDF microphone after his bronze medal in the

"I wouldn't have believed that I could still do it," said Geiger.

The World Cup leader had traveled to the games in China as a favorite, but then didn't get along with the normal hill at all and only got along marginally better with the large hill.

Geiger, who landed twice at 138 meters, delivered his two best attempts in the second and last individual competition of the games.

After sixth place in the first round, Geiger worked his way up to third place, Markus Eisenbichler, the second-best German, convinced in fifth place and gave hope for the team competition on Monday.

The Norwegian

snatched the Olympic victory from the favored Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi thanks to a strong second attempt - Kobayashi had dominated the competition on the normal hill.

Johannes Thingnes

and

have shared the podium places in

the men's

The younger, enormously strong Johannes Thingnes could not be beat over the ten kilometers: the Norwegian outclassed the competition on the cross-country ski run, his one missed shot was irrelevant.

Brother Tarjei also missed a target, for the 33-year-old it was the first individual medal at the Olympic Games - and one for which the competition was also happy: »It is the most well-deserved Olympic medal in a long time.

If there's anyone who deserves it, it's him.

He's a fantastic guy,” said Swede Sebastian Samuelsson.

Silver went to Frenchman Quentin Fillon Maillet, who had previously won gold in the singles.

Benedikt Doll took eighth place as the best German.

The German ice hockey team

was not too happy - the team of national coach Toni Söderholm was able to celebrate at least their first win (3:2) after the 5-1 defeat against Canada at the start against outsiders China.

The fact that the Kunlun Red Star club team, which represented the hosts with numerous naturalized North Americans in the absence of a classic national team, became exciting again after a 3-0 lead does not speak for the medal chances of the silver winners from Pyeongchang.

The opponents were underestimated, admitted Captain Moritz Müller: "We thought it would be easy and we'd march over the Chinese like the Americans did." Instead, there were many slight mistakes to be seen before the final group game against the USA the chances of a direct entry into the quarter-finals are only minimal.

However, the tournament mode allows each team a path to the last eight, and in 2018 the German selection had already taken the detour via a knockout game.

Neise and Jacobellis cheer

pilot

was responsible for the greatest (and most surprising) success of the German Olympians

.

The 21-year-old continued the German team's series of successes in the ice channel, and the sixth gold medal also went to the DOSB team.

While the more experienced Tina Hermann and Jacqueline Lölling made minor mistakes and missed out on the medals, Neise set the best time in three of four runs and ultimately won in front of Australia's Jaclyn Narracott, who unexpectedly won silver.

Bronze went to Kimberley Bos from the Netherlands.

The other gold medals of the day went to the USA and China: After her success in the individual, snowboard

also won the title in the mixed competition together with

.

made history as the first Chinese Olympic speed skating champion, winning the 500 meters.

cev/sid/dpa