The German bobsleigh women have underlined their ambitions for medals at the start of the Olympic race. Mariama Jamanka is even surprisingly in the lead.
One day after Francesco Friedrich’s Olympic victory, the German bobsleigh women started brilliantly in the Olympic two-man race. Mariama Jamanka (Oberhof) was the big surprise at the Alpensia Sliding Centre in Pyeongchang. Lisa Buckwitz, the alleged German number two, is even on a gold medal at half-time.
“I was scared stiff, apparently I found a shortcut. I wasn’t even satisfied with the runs,”said Jamanka.
In the second run, however, she overtook the first leading Elena Meyers Taylor from the USA and entered the decision on Wednesday (from 8.40 pm OZ/12.40pm CET) with a narrow margin of 0.07 seconds to the world champion. In addition to the incipient duel for gold, the second German bob with Stephanie Schneider and Annika Drazek is involved in a triathlon for bronze.
Schneider/Drazek came third with a gap of 0.30 seconds to Jamanka/Buckwitz, followed by Jamie Poser Greubelo (USA/+0.32 seconds) and Olympic champion Kaillie Humphries (Canada/+0.34). Anna Köhler (+1.15) is ranked twelfth with Erline Nolte.
The first run was marked by mistakes of the best bobsleds. Meyer’s Taylor scored an extreme cross-stance after the infamous ninth corner, but for the fastest time he was still 0.02 seconds ahead of the surprisingly strong Jamanka. Humphries also drove dirty. In the second run, Meyers Taylor fell back again and lost the lead to the German duo.
The German Bob Schneider/Drazek had a completely different problem. The duo is usually one of the fastest starters, but at the start they were more than a tenth of a second behind Meyers Taylor’s best start time on the first few meters. Drazek had broken his ankle six days ago and was injured.
The 22-year-old is regarded as the world’s best pusher, and after careful consideration, national coach Rene Spies had set her up for the Winter Games in Schneider’s sled. This duo, in particular, has so far been awarded a medal in the fight against Meyers Taylor, Humphries and Greubel Poser, who have been superior North Americans for years.
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