After two of four runs, the Tyrolean is only in ninth place, 1.22 seconds behind the German leader Francesco Friedrich. Friedrich leads 3/100 in front of compatriot Johannes Lochner. Maier is already 84/100 seconds short of Canadian Justin Kripps’ sled, which is in bronze.
Maier, who competes with Sascha Stepan, Markus Sammer and Kristian Huber, was not happy. “It was already becoming apparent in training. The overall package wasn’t ideal today: we left something at the start, we made a few mistakes on the track,” analyzed Maier on ORF. There was no gross blunder, but something was missing everywhere.
The starting number in the first run (10) didn’t exactly help either. “The starting number is worked out over the course of the season and due to the corona disease we weren’t able to do all the races,” explained Maier. But there’s no point in complaining, and other teams with a bad starting number were also quick.
“It will be very, very difficult towards the medal, but we are fighting for every place.” A lot can always happen on this track, but the medal will not be possible on your own, Maier was under no illusions.
Bob Austria II with pilot Markus Treichl as well as Markus Glück, Sebastian Mitterer and Robert Eckschlager also did a disappointing job. The quartet only finished 21st in the first run and was also beaten by the “exotics” from Brazil. With a worse start number as a result, Treichl lost two more places and went into the final day of the games in 23rd (+2.60 seconds). The races on Sunday are scheduled at 02.30 and 04.20 CET.
Source: Nachrichten
