Yanqing (AP) – The hoped-for first gold medal for monoskier Anna-Lena Forster at the Paralympics in Beijing is a long way off.
The 2018 winner, who started the race as the favorite on Monday (local time), is only fourth in the Super Combined after the Super G. Although Forster is the strongest driver in the following slalom, the 6.07 seconds behind Momoka Muraoka can hardly be made up. In the first two disciplines in Beijing, Muraoka won gold and Forster silver. In the Super G race on Sunday she was only 0.11 seconds behind the Japanese.
“Six seconds is quite a number,” said Forster: “A medal is certainly still realistic, but I was actually aiming for the gold today.” “To be honest, I don’t know exactly what was going on. But I apparently slept through the run. And Momoka accelerated because she knew that I was stronger in slalom.”
The first run was also disappointing for the other German drivers. Marburg’s Noemi Ristau in the visually impaired class and Andrea Rothfuss (Mitteltal-Obertal) in the standing class have already been eliminated. Anna-Maria Rieder from Murnau is sixth in Rothfuss’ class in the slalom.
