Olympia 2018: Savchenko/Massot: Goldtraum almost burst already

The Olympic victory is almost out of reach, but a medal is still possible: Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot did not manage a perfect short program in the Olympic pair run decision.

The runners-up from Oberstdorf take fourth place in the intermediate classification in Pyeongchang and have to start a race to catch up in the freestyle competition on Thursday (10.30 a. m. OZ/2.30 CET).

However, the point distance to the first two places is already considerable. The world champions Sui Wenjing and Han Cong from China (82.39) took first place ahead of the Russian European champions Yevgeniya Tarasova and Vladimir Morosów (81.68).

However, the Canadian former world champions Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford (76.82) are still within striking distance of the Grand Prix winners from the Allgäu, who reached 76.59 points.

“Good job”, the Ukrainian-born singer had called out to her partner after the end of the short freestyle competition, but things didn’t go as smoothly as planned for the charges of coach Alexander König. Points were deducted for weaknesses in the threefold Salchow and a death spiral to which the attempt was not perfect.

Massot was unlucky for the parallel jump, who only doubled instead of triple. A mistake that cost at least four points:”Annoying, but it goes on,”said the native Frenchman. Coach König was unprepared for Massot’s mistake:”I can’t quite understand it. One thing is clear: if everything runs smoothly, we’d be at eye level.”

Early in the morning (local time) Olympic debutants Annika Hocke from Berlin and Ruben Blommaert from Oberstdorf qualified for the free skating final with a spot landing. The DM third parties occupied exactly the 16th position required for this. With 63.04 points they achieved their best result of the season so far.

“Annika and Ruben ran what they could. Jumping into the final was really not easy for them,”said DEU sports director Udo Dönsdorf. Blommaert allowed himself the only small blunder. Born in Belgium, he touched the gang with his hand at the end of the triple toe loop.

“My jump was fine, but I just got too close to the edge of the rink. It’s a great feeling that we’re now moving on,”said the 25-year-old.

But the loudest applause came from the North Koreans Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju Sik. Cheered frenetically by the cheerleaders from their home country, the duo also managed to qualify for the medal with eleventh place.

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.