Olympic debutants Annika Hocke from Berlin and Ruben Blommaert from Oberstdorf qualified for the free skating finals on Thursday (10.30 a. m. local time at 2.30 p. m. CET) in the Pyeongchang matches.
After three out of six rounds in the short programme, the DM third place finishes cannot be replaced by one of the top 16 places.
“Annika and Ruben ran what they could. Jumping into the final was really not easy for them,”said DEU sports director Udo Dönsdorf. Blommaert, who was born in Belgium, made the only small mistake and touched the gang with his hand when the triple to-loop ran out.
But the loudest applause came from the North Koreans Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju Sik. Cheerful cheerleaders from their home country also cheered frenetically, and the duo also managed to qualify for the medal.
The pair from Pyongyang had already qualified for the Olympic Games in September. The Canadian coach Bruno Marcotte’s charges finally needed an IOC invitation to start in South Korea after the national association had let the deadline expire.