This is how the 15th day of the Olympics works
A return and the farewell of a great one
02/18/2022, 8:59 p.m
There is German gold in the air again – or more precisely: in the Eiskanal, this German gold mine. The bobsleigh pilots can win multiple medals at the Olympic Games. On the ice, a very big one says goodbye. Maybe.
Bob: What the Dutchman’s ice oval is, the German’s ice channel is: While the speed skating competitions appear in Oranje, the sled and toboggan athletes of the German Olympic team are almost unbeatable when it comes to ice downhill. So far there have been six gold medals in men’s luge, skeleton and two-man bobsleigh. Now the German women bobsleigh pilots want to follow suit: from 1 p.m. (ARD and in the live ticker on ntv.de) after the triple success of the German men, it is about the next medals for the German team. And things are looking good: After the first two runs, Laura Nolte is in the lead ahead of Mariama Jamanka. Kim Kalicki is also within reach of a medal: The woman from Wiesbaden, who had made her sled available to Francesco Friedrich for his later gold run, is sixth in the two decisive runs.
Before the women compete for medals, the men in the foursome want to secure a good starting position for the final on Sunday: From 2.30 a.m. the pilots will get into their sleds for their first two of four runs.
speed skating: With all caution: Claudia Pechstein’s great Olympic career comes to an end at 8 a.m. The five-time Olympic champion, who was Germany’s record Olympian until luger Natalie Geisenberger’s sixth gold medal, will compete in the mass start in her last Olympic Games competition. Three days before her 50th birthday. Germany’s flag bearer from the opening ceremony 30 years after her Olympic debut is not one of the favourites. Of course not.
But sometimes just being there is everything. Even if a lot can happen in the mass start. “That’s true, but I’m still a realist and I say that I can no longer win an Olympic medal,” emphasized the Berliner, who celebrated her Olympic debut in 1992 in the French Alpine town of Albertville. “The fact that I can no longer run for medals,” she said last winter RTL / ntv, “is not bad at all, and it never was. When you do your best, everything is good, and when others are better , then that’s the way it is. You can’t subscribe to victories, and it’s good that that doesn’t work in sport.”
So far, Pechstein has left open whether it is really her last Olympic race. “When we were getting dressed for Beijing, some of our colleagues already said: See you in four years! But maybe that was just gallows humor meant in a positive way,” Pechstein told the weekly newspaper “Die Zeit” before leaving for China. “Now let’s go to Beijing first, then I’ll celebrate my 50th birthday and then we’ll talk about everything else, okay?” Even in her 50th year, Pechstein clearly had her national competition under control.
Alpine skiing: Two bitter fourth places, but nothing countable: The Olympic record of the German alpine ski team has been rich in frustration but poor in medals. The team competition (from 4 a.m.) offers a last chance for precious metal. And the Germans really feel like it: “We’re all in a good mood, the atmosphere is good. We’ve prepared well and are now hot again,” announced Lena Dürr, fourth in the slalom. “We’re really looking forward to our final competition.” At the World Championships in Cortina d’Ampezzo a year ago, the Germans surprisingly took bronze in the team event.
In the team event, women and men compete against each other for their teams in parallel races. After the disappointments of the last few days, they want to “attack” again, said Linus Straßer, who, like Dürr, is likely to be one of the permanent staff of the German team. But the parallel races are “a very special event. Everything is included: from the first lap to a medal.” However, there are others who are favourites: Austrians, of course, but also the USA. Superstar Mikaela Shiffrin is probably fighting for her very personal happy ending to these games that are so bitter for her.
cross-country skiing: 50 merciless kilometers lie ahead of the cross-country skiers at the end of their competitions. From a German point of view, there are no great ambitions, but a special goal: “We just want our boys to have fun, that they have a fun,” said team boss Peter Schlickenrieder, looking at the eternal ordeal in what is believed to be double-digit minus temperatures. “Everyone who can still walk and still has an accreditation, we need him on the route.” Regarding the appointment of 21-year-old Friedrich Moch to the squad, the 52-year-old said: “So that – according to our saying ‘with every 50 you get a chest hair’ – a chest hair grows.” The “Gaudi” in free style starts at 7 a.m.
curling: Will the curling men of Great Britain (from 7.05 a.m.) succeed in their first Olympic victory in almost 100 years? In 1924 they had won the Olympic premiere of the competition. In the second final in 2014, they lost to Canada. So now the next attempt. Opponent Sweden reaches for the first gold medal. In 1924 they were the final opponents of the British, and in 2018 there was “only” silver. In an exciting semi-final, the Scandinavians had benefited from a dropout in the Canadian skip – and thus made it into the final with a 4:3 score. German teams did not qualify for the Olympic curling competitions.