Olympia 2022
Hope for a medal for Germany and the end of a glorious career – that was the Olympic night
“It was super emotional”: Snowboard superstar Shaun White after the last Olympic competition of his career
© Cameron Spencer / Getty Images
The seventh decision day at the Olympics in Beijing is also a tough one: the German skeleton pilots made a promising start, a snowboard icon said goodbye without a medal and a Swiss woman cheered in the Super-G.
Friday at the Olympic Winter Games in China started without any German medals, but with decent placings and good prospects for more medals. In the skeleton, the German starters are promising in the race. In the coming days in Beijing, the sports judges will also be required to deal with an explosive case.
Skeleton
The German pilots made a promising start in the fight for the medals. Olympic debutant Hannah Neise from Winterberg is second after two of four runs, 0.21 seconds behind the leading Australian Jaclyn Narracott. World champion Tina Hermann from WSV Königssee finished third on Friday and is only two hundredths of a second behind Neise. The Olympic silver medalist from Pyeongchang, Jacqueline Lölling from RSG Hochsauerland, finished fifth before the two decisive races on Saturday and is 0.38 seconds behind Narracott.
Super G
The Swiss ski racer Lara Gut-Behrami is Olympic champion for the first time. The world champion and 34-time World Cup winner won the Super-G at the Winter Games in China on Friday. On Monday, the 30-year-old had already won bronze in the giant slalom. Second behind Gut-Behrami was the Austrian Mirjam Puchner, third was the Swiss Michelle Gisin. The only German starter, Kira Weidle, was 15th. In the downhill next Tuesday, however, the Starnberg woman is to be rated much better. After her early exit in giant slalom and slalom, US star Mikaela Shiffrin reached the finish line this time and took ninth place.
Snowboard
Superstar Shaun White just missed out on a medal at the Beijing Winter Olympics in the final competition of his illustrious career. The 35-year-old American came fourth in the halfpipe final on Friday with 85.00 points and, after a total of three Olympic gold medals, remained without any further precious metal. White fell in the third and final heat, 2.25 points short of Swiss Jan Scherrer in bronze. Japan’s Ayumu Hirano followed White as Olympic champion with 96.00 points thanks to an outstanding performance with the highest difficulty in the last heat. Australia’s Scotty James won silver. André Höflich from SC Kempten finished eighth with 76.00 points.
The other heroes – athletes living the Olympic dream
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speed skating
After surviving a corona infection, Joel Dufter was the last German speed skater to travel to the Winter Olympics in Beijing. As the German speed skating and short track community announced on Friday night, the Inzeller has moved into the Olympic village. The 26-year-old sprinter is scheduled to start over 500 meters this Saturday and over 1000 meters on February 18. Dufter, who had improved the German record over the 500 meters to 34.32 seconds this season, was infected with the corona virus at the end of January and then went into quarantine.
Doping
In the doping whirlwind surrounding Russian figure skater Kamila Valiyeva, the International Olympic Committee is urging the sports judges to make a quick decision. “We want to speed this up as much as possible,” said IOC spokesman Mark Adams on Friday in Beijing. Valiyeva, 15, tested positive for a banned substance at the end of December, but the Russian Anti-Doping Agency had lifted her temporary ban. At the Olympics in China, Valiyeva won gold with the Russian team in the team competition ahead of the USA and Japan. On behalf of the IOC, the international test agency Ita is taking action against the lifting of the suspension. The IOC is hoping for a decision from the International Court of Arbitration for Sports before the start of the women’s individual competition on February 15, in which European champion Valiyeva is the top favourite.
Corona
The number of corona cases at the Winter Games has increased slightly for the second day in a row. After a low on Tuesday with five cases, eleven infections were found on Thursday, the organizers announced in Beijing on Friday. It was nine on Wednesday. Two of the newly infected were identified at the airport on arrival, while daily testing of all participants in the enclosed Olympic bubble uncovered nine cases. A total of 418 infections have been detected since travel to the Winter Games began on January 23. A total of almost 1.2 million PCR tests were taken during this period.
