Golden Olympic farewell for Germany?

Women's and men's bobsleighs before triumph

Created: 02/19/2022, 09:32

By: Marius Epp

Olympia: The German four-man bobsleigh around Francesco Friedrich on a gold mission.

© Robert Michael/dpa

What's happening in Beijing on Saturday?

Germany has good chances of double gold in bobsleigh.

The Olympic day in the news ticker.

Olympia: four-man bobsleigh - intermediate result after 2 of 4 runs

Update from February 19, 9:05 a.m .:

The first two runs in the men’s four-man bobsleigh took place during the night.

And it looks like gold and silver for Germany again!

Two-man bobsleigh Olympic champion Francesco Friedrich is in first place at halftime.

The lead over teammate Johannes Lochner is only 3 hundredths.

Lochner was faster in the first round.

Canadian Justin Kripps is in third place, he is already 38 hundredths behind Friedrich.

Christoph Hafer, who is currently in fourth place, is still fighting for bronze.

The Latvian Oskars Kibermanis lurks directly behind him.

The decisive races 3 (Sunday, 2.30 a.m.) and 4 (Sunday, 4.20 a.m.) are reserved for night owls.

Update from February 18, 3:57 p.m .:

The bobsleigh girls are on course for gold at the Olympics in two-man bobsleigh, the decision will be made on Saturday (from 1 p.m. in the live ticker).

However, the supreme discipline in the ice track takes place at the weekend when the men's four-man bob races off.

However, the competition takes place on Saturday and Sunday at an unchristian time in the middle of the night in Germany:

• 1st run: Saturday at 2.30 a.m

• 2nd run: Saturday at 4:05 am

• 3rd run: Sunday at 2.30 a.m

• 4th run: Sunday at 4.20 a.m

Two-man bobsleigh Olympic champion Francesco Friedrich set the second-best time behind Johannes Lochner in the final training session in the large sled.

The record world champion from BSC Sachsen Oberbärenburg tinkered a bit with the material beforehand and completed a solid fifth run with his four-man bobsleigh crew on Friday without pushing at the start with full force.

Johannes Lochner from Berchtesgaden, driving for Stuttgart, raced to the best time with a faster start.

Friedrich and Lochner skipped the sixth and last training run. Christoph Hafer from BC Bad Feilnbach skipped the entire final training session.

After a previously good driving line, his team had to regenerate before the races on Saturday and Sunday in the premier class.

After 24 years, Team Jamaica is again entering a four-man bobsleigh.

Update from February 18, 6:20 a.m.:

Final sprint at the Olympics!

The last biathlon races are on Friday.

We accompany the mass starts for women (8 a.m. CET) and men (10 a.m. CET) here in the live ticker.

Huge confusion at the Olympics!

German medal - or not?

Update from February 17, 8:57 a.m.:

What a drama in ski cross - at the end of a big game of confusion there is a surprising bronze medal for Germany!

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What decisions are pending on February 17?

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Olympic schedule live today: These competitions and decisions are due on February 17th

DSV athlete Daniela Maier surprisingly made it into the final.

There she fought an exciting battle for the medals with Swede Sandra Naeslund, Canadian Marielle Thompson and Swiss Fanny Smith.

Maier crossed the finish line in thankless fourth place, and the great chance for a medal seemed to have been missed.

But then it got bizarre: The race organizers checked the race, at the finish line the athletes waited what felt like an eternity for a decision.

The reason: in the last few meters, the Swiss Smith put her skis in the way of the Germans - without this maneuver, Maier would have overtaken her with excess speed.

Whether it was intentional is difficult to tell.

Eventually, Smith was disqualified - and Maier inherited bronze!

Olympic News: Bronze for Germany in women's ski cross

The Swiss felt robbed of her medal and angrily stalked towards the race control.

But the decision could no longer be shaken.

Maier was perplexed, shook her head and sympathized with her competitor.

She even showed great sportsmanship, talked to those responsible herself and protected Smith.

A little later she was happy about her great performance and the bronze medal, on the podium she burst into tears.

“It was an exciting thriller, Dani drove really well.

It's a medal, so in the end nobody asks how it came about.

That's how it is in our sport.

There are clear rules.

Dani is an incredibly fair athlete.

Bronze counts in the end,” summarized the visibly touched national coach Peter Stemmer.

By the way, gold went to the favorite Sandra Naeslund from Sweden, silver won Marielle Thompson from Canada.

First report from February 17th:

Beijing - Winter sports fans can look forward to four days of the Olympics.

For Germany, the games in China are quite successful - the German athletes have already brought home a total of 20 medals in a wide variety of disciplines.

Only the winter sports kings from Norway got even more precious metal.

A German medal will most likely follow on Thursday.

In Nordic combined, the team competition is on the large hill (from 9 a.m. in the live ticker).

Traditionally, the German combined athletes are big medal contenders.

Vinzenz Geiger was crowned Olympic champion on the normal hill, Manuel Faißt just missed a medal on the large hill.

Quarantine returnee Eric Frenzel will strengthen the German team.

Olympic news on Thursday: Russian Valiewa can win gold after doping scandal

What else is on Thursday?

Women's ski cross is all about precious metals.

The German Daniela Maier from Vöhrenbach has outsider chances, the favorite for gold is the Swede Sandra Näslund.

Johanna Holzmann (Memmingen) is the second German starter.

Medal decisions are also made in women's speed skating over 1000 meters (without German participation) and in women's figure skating.

There, all eyes are on Russian prodigy Kamila Valiyeva, who is allowed to compete after testing positive for banned substances and is in the lead going into the final.

With Nicole Schott (Essen), a German starter is also involved.

Olympia: Mikaela Shiffrin throws away combination gold – completely off the roll again

A small tragedy happened early in the morning: In the women's alpine combination, slalom superstar Mikaela Shiffrin was on course for gold after a great descent.

In the subsequent slalom, the poles became her nightmare again: As in the slalom and giant slalom, she was eliminated early for the third time after a mistake.

The 2022 Olympic Games were now finally a disaster for the American, who was so spoiled by victory.