Far from the medals – Big disappointment for Swiss alpine snowboarders – Sport

The Swiss cannot intervene in the fight for the medals for either the women or the men.

The omens for the next Swiss medal at the Olympic Games were actually good. Only in 2010 did Switzerland remain without a medal in the alpine snowboard division since the premiere in 1998. In Beijing, with Dario Caviezel, the last Swiss medal triumph in the parallel giant slalom got stuck in the round of 16.

In a duel with the Austrian Andreas Prommegger, the Grisons just lost out. “I certainly didn’t show a bad run, but it was just a bit better,” Caviezel analyzed afterwards. As 13th, the 26-year-old had only just qualified for the round of 16 and was given a correspondingly strong opponent in the 3rd-placed Austrian.

Also Kummer and Jenny out in the round of 16

A few minutes earlier, Patrizia Kummer, the 2014 Olympic champion, had lost her round of 16 duel against Prommegger’s compatriot Julia Dujmovits by two tenths. The decision in the round of 16 was even closer between Julie Zogg and Carolin Langenhorst, which the German decided in her favor with a lead of eight hundredths.

Zogg’s disappointment was huge after the narrow elimination: “It’s brutal. You prepare for this event for 4 years and then it just doesn’t work,” said the 29-year-old with tears in her eyes. Kummer, who had spent 3 weeks in quarantine before the competition, was on target: “I would have been ready and gave everything. But if the opponent is a bit faster, none of that helps.” The Valais left it open whether she would compete again in 4 years.

Defending champions Nevin Galmarini, Gian Casanova, Jessica Keizer and Ladina Jenny had already failed in qualifying. As 17th, Jenny narrowly missed out on participation in the round of 16, only 14 hundredths were missing for the knockout phase.

Ledecka defends title

As expected, in the fight for the Olympic victory there was no getting past Ester Ledecka. The Czech, who had already won gold in Pyeongchang in 2018, successfully defended her title in the final against Daniela Ulbing (AUT). Ledecka will also compete for medals on two bars in Super-G and downhill in Beijing.

The men’s Olympic gold went to Austria. Benjamin Karl prevailed in the final against the Slovenian Tim Mastnak. Karl, who won bronze in Vancouver in 2010 and silver in Sochi in 2014, completed his personal set of medals.