An Monday afternoon Hermann Weinbuch had to make a decision in Zhangjiakou. “We can’t wait any longer,” said the national coach of Nordic combined – and announced in a voice message distributed by the German Ski Association (DSV) that Manuel Faißt would be in the second combined competition of the Olympic Games this Tuesday (9:00 a.m. CET in the FAZ live ticker for the Olympics, on ZDF and on Eurosport) as the fourth starter for Germany.
That means: Both Eric Frenzel and Terence Weber, who have been in isolation since their arrival in Beijing on February 3 due to a Covid 19 infection, cannot take part. For Weber, the Olympic rookie, the games are even over. Because Faißt receives his accreditation and according to the rules it cannot be exchanged back, Weber cannot be used in the team competition on Thursday either.
“We didn’t let Manuel Faißt start the first week, even though he was here, because we hoped that the other two would get out in time,” says Weinbuch. “Now they’re still not out. That’s why we made the decision.”
On Monday afternoon (local time), Stephan Peplies, Eric Frenzel’s manager, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that Frenzel was able to leave the isolation after a negative corona test that day and was therefore allowed to train again. But that shouldn’t change anything about the line-up for the second individual race on Tuesday. When asked by the FAZ whether Frenzel would “certainly not start”, a DSV spokesman had previously replied: “Right, Faißt is the fourth man.”
On Saturday, Dr. Stefan Pecher, the team doctor of the Nordic Combined, said in a statement that in the event of a free test, he still had to declare Frenzel and Weber fit for action “from a sports medicine point of view”. “I would have to decide that when they are released from quarantine and I can do an intensive medical examination.”
For Weber, this question no longer arises. And for Frenzel, the Olympic champion from 2014 and 2018, who wanted to take part in his probably last games in Beijing? The national coach’s decision to substitute Faißt for Weber and not for Frenzel at least means that he has a chance of making an appearance. Frenzel will be absent this Tuesday, when Faißt and the new Olympic champion Vinzenz Geiger, Johannes Rydzek and Julian Schmid will be playing for Germany. Which leaves him with only one chance: the team competition on Thursday.
