The biathlete Joscha Burkhalter achieves his first place in the top ten. And the halfpipe final in Laax takes place without David Hablützel. The most important sports reports at a glance.
Soccer: No one gets more sending offs than Granit Xhaka
A tackle with consequences: Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka (below) is sent off after tackling Liverpool’s Diogo Jota.
(sda) Liverpool and Arsenal drew 0-0 in the first leg of the League Cup semifinals. Granit Xhaka was sent off.
After missing out on the humiliation in the FA Cup against Nottingham Forest (0-1) at the weekend due to a positive corona test, Granit Xhaka caused a stir with Arsenal on the pitch again on Thursday – in a negative sense.
In the semi-final first leg of the League Cup against Liverpool, it was 24 minutes when Xhaka tried to stop a long ball. However, he didn’t hit the ball with his tackle, but the chest of Liverpool’s Diogo Jota. Referee Michael Oliver dismissed the 29-year-old. It is Xhaka’s fifth red card at Arsenal. Since moving to the Premier League in 2016, no other player in the league has seen more red than the captain of the Swiss national team.
However, Liverpool could not use the advantage to score goals. The game remained goalless, leaving everything open ahead of the second leg in London in a week’s time.
Alpine skiing: Thanks to a special permit, Vincent Kriechmayr can complete the descents in Wengen
May start for the two descents on Friday and Saturday: the Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr.
(sda) Vincent Kriechmayr can also complete the two Ski World Cup downhill runs in Wengen on Friday and Saturday. The double world champion, who finished ninth in Super-G on Thursday, received special approval from the jury in the afternoon. After sitting out his corona quarantine, the 30-year-old only arrived in Wengen late on Wednesday evening and therefore missed the downhill training sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Normally, without training, he would have to skip the shortened descent on Friday and the Lauberhorn classic on Saturday for the entire distance. However, the FIS race director Markus Waldner explained in the team captains’ meeting in the evening that Kriechmayr is allowed to start due to a jury decision. There is no rule that an athlete must complete full training runs. He just has to be on the list and drive out of the start house, then he can stop the run immediately.
Kriechmayr will start on Friday at 9.44 a.m. from the original start of the Lauberhorn descent, said Waldner. After that he will stop immediately and complete the race later (start 12.30 p.m.). “We didn’t make that decision because it’s Mr. Kriechmayr, who is a world champion and won here. We would make that decision for every driver because we live in very complicated Covid pandemic times, »explained the South Tyrolean. “We want to avoid a driver not being able to start because of this Covid.”
Biathlon: Joscha Burkhalter’s first place in the top ten
(sda) The Swiss biathlete Joscha Burkhalter confirmed his good form in Ruhpolding and finished 10th in the World Cup sprint.
The 25-year-old from the Simmental laid the basis for the best result of his career at the shooting range. As one of 17 runners (of 111 participants) he remained without mistakes. He also showed a solid performance on the cross-country ski run.
Just six days ago, Burkhalter had set his previous record in Oberhof, also in the sprint, with 29th place. He should be seeded for the Olympic Games. The Bernese Oberland lost a good 51 seconds to the again victorious World Cup leader Quentin Fillon Maillet.
Without team leader Benjamin Weger, who was absent due to a positive corona test, no other Swiss made it into the points.
Snowboard: Halfpipe final in Laax without David Hablützel
The men’s halfpipe final takes place in Laax without David Hablützel.
(sda) The men’s halfpipe final at the Laax Open will take place on Saturday without Flimser David Hablützel. The 24-year-old retired in the semi-finals in ninth place in his heat.
Hablützel, who drives with a torn cruciate ligament and has already met the selection criteria for an Olympic squad, scored a good eight points too few after a suboptimal first run and a fall in the second to be in the final of the top twelve on Saturday. “It annoys me that I didn’t call up my level here in the presence of my friends and family when it counted,” said Hablützel. After all, the cruciate ligament tear did not affect him.
Jan Scherrer and Pat Burgener survived the semi-finals with ease. Scherrer finished third in Hablützels Heat behind the Japanese Ayumu Hirano and Yuto Totsuka and ahead of Shaun White. In the women’s category, no Swiss made it to the final. Berenice Wicki from Aargau was tenth and lacked around eight points to make it into the top eight.
In the men’s slopestyle on Saturday, Switzerland will be represented solely by Nicolas Huber. The women complete the semi-finals on Friday.
Tennis: Bencic against Mladenovic, Hammerlos for Laaksonen
Bencic meets Kristina Mladenovic in the first round of the Australian Open.
(sda) The Olympic champion Belinda Bencic starts at the Australian Open against the French Kristina Mladenovic. Henri Laaksonen receives a big chunk with world number 2 Daniil Medvedev.
The seeded number 22 will be against Mladenovic (WTA 91). enter the tournament as a favourite. However, the first seeded could already meet the Japanese defending champion Naomi Osaka in the 3rd round.
The duels of the other Swiss women seem to be fairly balanced. Jil Teichmann (WTA 37), who just missed being included in the seeding list, meets the Croatian Petra Martic (WTA 54), Viktorija Golubic (WTA 42) has to deal with the Chinese Zhang Shuai (WTA 60). Stefanie Vögele could join from qualifying on Friday.
Henri Laaksonen, the only Swiss man in the tableau, needs a sensation if he wants to move into the second round like three years ago. With the US Open champion and last year’s finalist Daniil Medvedev, he faces a probably overpowering opponent.
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic would face fellow countryman Miomir Kecmanovic. It was still unclear at the draw whether he would actually be allowed to play or whether his visa would be revoked again. A decision is no longer expected on Thursday.