Winter sports weekend compact: Friedrich does not allow any other winners in the bobsleigh

Winter sports weekend compact
Friedrich does not allow any other winners in the bobsleigh

In the biathlon, the German teams are little short of jumping on the podium, things are going much better for the ski jumpers this weekend. In the bobsleigh, Francesco Friedrich is the measure of all things, in tobogganing there is a double victory. The winter sports weekend at a glance.

biathlon

The podium places are often quite close, but the German biathletes are not yet enough to jump to the very front at the start of the Olympic winter. The women’s relay was fifth, and Roman Rees was the best in the pursuit as 13th. Johannes Kühn cracked the Olympic norm in 14th place. The victories went to France and the Norwegian Vjetle Sjastad Christiansen. The day before, the men’s quartet with Erik Lesser, Rees, Benedikt Doll and Philipp Nawrath missed third place by 21.9 seconds. Franziska Preuß was once again the best of her team as the fifth in pursuit.

Ski jumping

The Olympic winter continues as desired for Germany’s ski jumpers. Katharina Althaus won her first World Cup victory of the winter in Lillehammer. After the strong start in Nischni Tagil and Ruka, the men are also still on course: In the Wisla team competition, Markus Eisenbichler, Stephan Leyhe, Karl Geiger and Pius Paschke finished second behind the victorious Austrians. In the individual it was enough for the victory of the Austrian Jan Hörl for the ranks four (Geiger), five (Eisenbichler) and seven (Paschke).

Alpine skiing

Kira Weidle can plan for the Olympics. Even if the Starnberg woman was not completely satisfied with her tenth and seventh place on the downhill in Lake Louise, the World Cup runner-up achieved her first major goal of the season. In the men’s category, Andreas Sander fulfilled the norm for the Winter Games with his fourth place in the first Super-G in Beaver Creek. In the end, the Ennepetal missed his first World Cup podium by just three hundredths of a second. For the other German starters around Romed Baumann only supporting roles remained. Because the second Super-G fell victim to the strong wind, the next opportunity will only come in two weeks in Val Gardena.

bob

Francesco Friedrich achieved the third World Cup double in the Olympic winter and has been unbeaten on his home track in Altenberg since January 2018. After his victorious race in the small sled, the double Olympic champion from BSC Oberbärenburg also won the four-man bobsleigh competition, it was the sixth victory in the sixth race of the season. Laura Nolte’s winning streak ended in women. After two successes, as so often in Altenberg, she had to admit defeat to the exceptional driver Kaillie Humphries from the USA. “It was very close, but first I shot too high in Turn 13, then I had a support in run two,” said Nolte.

tobogganing

Julia Taubitz is still in top form.

(Photo: dpa)

Seven podium places and a double victory: At the end of their tour through China and Russia, the German luge riders confirmed their good form. World champion Julia Taubitz won her two races and was the most successful German athlete at the third World Cup in Sochi. Like Johannes Ludwig, who came second in the men’s race, the 25-year-old also leads the overall World Cup. Toni Eggert / Sascha Benecken took second place in the doubles, while Robin Geueke / David Gamm came third in the sprint.

Nordic combination

The German combiners are good, Jarl Magnus Riiber is better. At the competitions in Lillehammer, Norway, the team of national coach Hermann Weinbuch achieved two podium places: second place in the team competition, third place for veteran Eric Frenzel in the individual. The victories went to Norway and Riiber, who was able to extend his overall lead with the success ahead of Johannes Lamparter from Austria. There were no German podium places for women.

Cross-country skiing

The German cross-country teams were unable to confirm their dream start from Ruka in Finland this weekend. There were seventh places in each of the two seasons, with Norway’s men and Russia’s women winning. In the singles, Victoria Carl (11th) and Katharina Hennig (13th) just missed out on the top ten. In the previous week, Hennig had surprisingly made it onto the podium in the classic technique.

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