Hot gold duel in luge
The first medals were won by the teams from Germany and Austria. The Swiss still came away empty-handed on the first day of competition. That should change on Sunday. The first big highlight on the schedule of the second day of competition is the men’s alpine downhill, in which the Swiss and Austrians in particular will fancy their chances of being among the front runners.
But already before that, all our German-speaking nations will have a finalist on the snowboard in the women’s slopestyle. Although there will be a few athletes from our home area competing in their respective sports and disciplines at breakfast time, there will hardly be anything in cross-country skiing and also in speed skating this Sunday.
It will be really exciting at noon, because at this time the Olympic programme on 06.02.2022 has more highlights in store. In the men’s ski jumping on the normal hill and in the luge, precious metal beckons for our athletes. Especially in the luge, it will be hard to resist bringing home medals after the first two rounds.
Olympics 2022 – Current medal table
In the team sports, only Switzerland is competing. In curling, there should at least be a win against Australia. The women’s ice hockey team, on the other hand, will have to be careful not to suffer another lesson. After the double-digit defeat against the Canadians, there is also the threat of a heavy defeat against the USA. However, the Swiss are still safely qualified for the quarter-finals
The most important decisions of the day
Alpine Skiing – Men’s Downhill
4:00 CET – Yanqing Alpine Skiing Centre Speed
At the Olympic Games, there are some supreme disciplines. The men’s downhill is one of them. Hardly any decision in the entire programme in Beijing has more prestige. Some athletes are hoping to win their first medal directly in the first alpine decision.
But the experienced top dogs will be chasing the leader in the downhill World Cup. This applies to Beat Feuz from Switzerland, Dominik Paris from Italy and Matthias Mayer from Austria. The latter was already Olympic downhill champion in Sochi in 2014. World champion Vincent Kriechmayr, Max Franz and Daniel Hemetsberger are other Austria athletes who could end up far in front.
Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt is the leader in the overall World Cup and he can also have a say in the medals. The German athletes will probably not finish far ahead. However, we wouldn’t get carried away with a concrete tip for the first decision of the day. There are probably too many strong athletes in the men’s downhill for that.
Luge – men’s single
from 12:30 CET – Yanqing Sliding Centre
Everything points to a duel for the gold medal in the men’s luge between Johannes Ludwig and Wolfgang Kindl. Both have been the best athletes throughout the winter and are only about four hundredths of a second apart after two runs. If these two lugers do not allow themselves any more mistakes, both should end up in first and second place.
In the first run Johannes Ludwig directly set a track record. In the second run Wolfgang Kindl was the fastest. The race for bronze is still completely open. Dominik Fischnaller from Italy and Felix Loch have the best chances for bronze. Maybe Kristers Aparjods can still be in the mix.
This means that some of our racers from Austria and Germany have already said goodbye to the medal ranks. The Gleirscher brothers and Max Langenhan will probably not play a role anymore. The two Austrians are already more than a second behind, that’s worlds apart in luge. But there will still be something to celebrate for Germany and Austria.
Men’s Ski Jumping – Normal Hill
from 13:00 CET – Zhangjiakou Ski Jumping Centre
Karl Geiger has come to China as the leader in the overall World Cup, but what can basically be applied to the assembled German team applies to him. The German eagles obviously can’t cope with the normal hill in Zhangjiakou. Therefore, one should not necessarily assume that there will be a medal for the German athletes on Sunday.
The Austrians have done better, with several athletes in the lead in the training jumps and also in the qualification. Maybe there will even be enough for an unexpected medal on Sunday. Ryoyu Kobayashi from Japan landed in the qualification where you could count on hers, and the winner of the Four Hills Tournament will definitely fight for precious metal.
Surprisingly, this also applies to World Champion Piotr Zyla. The Poles have hardly played a role this winter, but just in time for the Games they seem to be counted on again. The favourites, however, are the Norwegians. Marius Lindvik and Robert Johansson were the best in the qualification and also Halvor Egner Granerud fuels the hopes for a successful competition of the Norwegian jumpers.
Important Olympic hockey matches tonight
Women – China vs. Japan
9:40am CET – Preliminary Round – Wukesong Arena
There are two groups in the women’s ice hockey tournament, divided into strong and weak. From the weak pool, three out of five teams will reach the quarter-finals. The Japanese women have very good prospects in this. After two games, they have wins against Sweden and Denmark. The Japanese women are well on their way to remaining in the tournament.
On Sunday, the Asian duel will be against the hosts from China. The Chinese have one win and one loss on their record and still have to tremble to remain in the quarter-finals. Interestingly, more than half of the squad has North American roots. Nevertheless, the Japanese team should be favoured in this duel.
Women – Switzerland vs. USA
14:10 CET – Preliminary Round – Wukesong Arena
The Swiss women can be relatively relaxed about this preliminary round. The Nati play in the strong group and, no matter how they perform, they are qualified for the quarter-finals. Four defeats in the group phase would not be a surprise. So far, they have lost to Canada and Russia and the chances of scoring against the United States on Sunday are very slim.
The US girls are the big gold favourites at this Olympic women’s tournament alongside the Canadians. So far, the defending champions have picked up two wins in two games. However, it is bitter that Brianna Decker, one of the top players, is no longer able to take part in the tournament after a serious injury. Nevertheless, nothing should stand in the way of a victory against Switzerland.
Team Germany to watch in Beijing
The German Olympic day starts directly at 2:30 in the night. The women’s slopestyle final with Annika Morgan is on the programme. She has entered the final as tenth in the qualification, where the medals will be contested in three runs. Perhaps the 19-year-old can cause a surprise. There will be no such surprise in figure skating with the teams. Nicole Schott has no chance of getting the German team into the free skate of the best five nations.
In the first alpine decision, the German downhill skiers will probably not play a major role. The training runs have shown that a place in the top ten would already be a good result, even though a wind lottery is expected early on Sunday. Things will only get really serious for the German Olympians at lunchtime.
In the men’s ski jumping on the normal hill, the chances are definitely there, even if the impressions so far in the Middle Kingdom do not suggest that there will be any precious metal. The situation is different in the men’s luge. With the single-seater, everything is still possible for the three German athletes Felix Loch, Johannes Ludwig and Max Langenhan.
Team Austria to watch in Beijing
It could be a successful day for the team from Austria. Right at 2:30 the schedule of the day shows the first medal chance. Anna Gasser is hoping for a medal with the snowboard. After that, it’s straight on to the decision in the men’s alpine downhill. Anyone who knows a little about what makes Austrian winter sports fans tick can guess what this race means.
Vincent Kriechmayr and Matthias Mayer in particular are expected to be in the lead. Daniel Hemetsberger and Max Franz are also promising outsiders. There are several qualifications, including snowboarding and moguls, but the Austrians will also be looking forward to the Olympic programme at noon after a short breather.
In the men’s ski jumping on the normal hill, the ÖSV eagles presented themselves very well, especially in the qualification. In the meantime, a medal seems to be possible again. In addition, it is about the line-up of the mixed team on Monday. At the end of the day, the decision in the ice chute in the luge is waiting, after which the Austrians could celebrate a successful day.
Team Switzerland to watch at Olympia 2022
It probably won’t make much sense for the Swiss to watch the Olympic programme as early as 2:30. Ariane Burri, in twelfth place in the qualification, just made it into the three final runs on the snowboard. She probably won’t make it much further there. The real action for the Swiss will start at 4:00 a.m. with the men’s downhill.
Beat Feuz and Marco Odermatt are among the favourites. Niels Hintermann and Stefan Rogentin, who was strong in training, are also to be watched. As the day progresses, there will not be many more successes for the Swiss. In curling, the semi-finals in the Mixed Doubles are almost impossible to reach. The women’s ice hockey team will probably have to swallow another clear defeat against the USA.
In cross-country skiing and speed skating, there probably won’t be much to be gained on Sunday either. But perhaps the Swiss will cause a surprise in ski jumping. Kilian Peier and Gregor Deschwanden have delivered good jumps in the qualification.
