On the last day of competition, Sunday, Katharina Liensberger, Stefan Brennsteiner, Katharina Truppe and Johannes Strolz as well as substitutes Michael Matt and Katharina Huber won the gold medal in the mixed team competition. In the final, Rot-weiß-rot beat Germany with a 2-2 draw thanks to the time rule. Bronze went to Norway.
Four years ago in Pyeongchang, Austria won silver behind Switzerland in the team competition at the first Olympic medal ceremony. The Confederates failed this time in the quarter-finals against Germany. For Austria it was the third alpine gold in China after Matthias Mayer (Super-G) and Strolz (combined). Like Liensberger, Strolz from Vorarlberg already had a silver medal in the slalom.
Strolz lost his stick
“It’s very good for the soul. It was cool today against all the really strong nations. It’s great that we can go home with the gold medal,” said Brennsteiner, who was just about to finish in the giant slalom with a possible medal in mind had slipped. “Of course it’s a terrific happy ending,” said the giant slalom fourth team. “We really fought our way through, there were such strong nations at the start, it was amazing. A few hundredths were on our side.”
After a bye at the start as the top seeded nation, there was a 3-1 win against Slovenia in the quarter-finals, with Andreja Slokar and Miha Hrobat falling in the process. In the semi-finals it was tighter against team world champion Norway, but in the 2:2 the addition of the fastest times per gender made the difference for the ÖSV team. Liensberger and Brennsteiner held up flawlessly in their duels – each on the apparently faster blue course. Also in the final these two had made it 2:1. Strolz then lost a stick as the keeper in a duel against Alexander Schmid and was clearly defeated, but the German stayed 0.19 seconds over the decisive time.
“It finally paid off”
“It was a fight. It can be over against Slovenia, then we’ll be back as idiots. They did really well, our people were very stable today. It finally paid off that if you have a good, stable momentum is also successful in the long run,” said women’s racing director Christian Mitter. Alpinchef Patrick Riml was on the list as the official team boss. “It was a great performance from our team. Of course it’s very gratifying that we can finish it like this,” the Tyrolean was satisfied.
Austria’s semi-final opponent Norway won the small final against the USA. US superstar Mikaela Shiffrin leaves China without a medal. The 26-year-old competed in all individual races, but dropped out in her special disciplines slalom, giant slalom and also in the combination. She had placed her last hopes in the team competition, but Shiffrin lost three duels. In the end it was only enough for fourth place.
For Germany it was the first alpine medal at the Olympics in eight years. Schmid, Emma Aicher, Lena Dürr, Linus Straßer and Julian Rauchfuss were used. Straßer, who had always driven until then, gave up his final run in favor of Rauchfuss. According to his own statement, the Munich driver struggled with the low speed and the changing course setting.
The competition was originally supposed to take place on Saturday, but strong gusts of wind made a race impossible and led to the postponement. But even on Sunday, strong winds blew at times, as well as freezing temperatures. The athletes made do with thick blankets, which some wrapped themselves in while waiting in the finish area.
Source: Nachrichten
