Wrapped up, sprinter Alexandra Burghardt warms up in the cold mountains of the Xiaohaituo Mountains.
“Fortunately we have winter clothes, I sweat here too, I need it for the competition that I sweat when warming up,” said Germany’s fastest 100-meter woman before starting in the two-man bobsleigh this Friday at the Olympic Games in Beijing. “You just have to dress well. A change of clothes, warm shoes, waterproof of course, then it works,” said the 27-year-old from SV Wacker Burghausen.
Shortly before leaving for China, she got the finishing touches at the track and field athletes’ training camp in warm Tenerife.
“I worked on the high speed and soaked up the sun again before it got cold,” she told the German Press Agency. At temperatures around minus 10 degrees Celsius, she is now at the start with brush shoes instead of spikes on bare ice. The difference? “Hardly any, just me pushing a device. I had to learn to transfer power to the bob,” she said. The two-man bobsleigh Olympic champion from Pyeongchang, Mariama Jamanka, uses her pushing aid.
“I wasn’t afraid”
The first competition ride together was in the ice channel in Innsbruck at the World Cup. “I wasn’t afraid, it caught me right away,” said the brakewoman, emphasizing: “Mariama gives me a safe feeling.” At the latest after the second World Cup start, the new duo was found. “You could see it in Mariama’s eyes that she sees added value there. She told me that if things really go in that direction, I really have a chance at the Olympics,” said head coach René Spies.
The miracle of Pyeongchang, when Jamanka surprisingly won gold with ex-athlete Lisa Buckwitz, is within reach again.
Only “now she comes from a different starting position. If you look at the last few years, then many of them have not been on the roll,” explained Spies and added: “She has all the options, as an Olympic champion, she is also a bit calm, she is experienced. So I think she will be strong at the start with Alexandra and she is a real weapon.”
“I already have the feeling for the sled”
28 weeks after starting at the Olympics in Tokyo, where she finished fifth in the 4×100 meter relay and stormed into the sprint semifinals, Burghardt is ready for the next Olympic adventure.
“I already have a feeling for the sled, Mariama also notices that we are meeting better and better, that the commands are always more coordinated. That is the be-all and end-all when we are at the starting line. She can focus on one hundred percent leave me,” said Burghardt. Goal? “Mariama is the reigning Olympic champion, the chance is there, we will do everything to achieve it.”
In her head she draws comparisons with athletics. “We’re always relatively close to a medal with the 4×100 meter relay if everything goes smoothly,” she explains. Your thoughts keep going back and forth. She is always looking for parallels. “It’s relatively similar in training and competition, I always try to be open, positive and relaxed.” For her, “everything is a question of attitude. I discussed it in advance with everyone who works with me, everyone gave the green light and they think we can do it,” she said.
Burghardt only part-time employee
“Alexandra has a long-standing trainer in Patrick Saile, who has also worked for us in bobsleigh in Bavaria. He is therefore very open to our sport,” said Spies. So immediately after Tokyo bobsleigh base trainer Stefan Bosch asked. “She accepted it for herself. Then a reasonable plan was made,” Spies said of Burghardt. He was immediately enthusiastic about her comprehension: “She worked meticulously on the technology and quickly skipped development steps.”
But the trip is only a short one. She is only a part-time boban pusher. “For me I’ve decided that I’ll switch back to athletics completely afterwards, that’s actually a very temporary project,” said Burghardt firmly.
New goals await. “First the title defense at the German championships, then there is a World Cup, a home European Championship in Munich – so one highlight follows the next.” After the Olympics in cold China, she wants to “take a week off, then focus on the tartan track again.”