Cross-country skier Marco Maier reaches for a medal in the freestyle sprint at the Beijing Paralympic Games. The 22-year-old from Oberstdorf set a best time of 2:43.67 minutes in qualifying for the standing class and confidently advanced to the medal run in the subsequent semifinals. After his second place in the biathlon sprint, short-distance specialist Maier is also one of the podium candidates on Wednesday.
The oldest German participant, Alexander Ehler, who was 52 years old, also just barely made it into the semi-finals in Maier’s starting class, but there he had to give up as fifth of his race.
Wicker, Ehler and the youngsters are also further
15-year-old Linn Kazmaier, who won silver in the biathlon sprint and over the long distance in cross-country skiing, underpinned her medal ambitions with guide Florian Baumann with the second-best qualifying time in the visually impaired class. The 18-year-old sensational biathlon winner Leonie Walter with guide Pirmin Strecker and Johanna Recktenwald with guide Valentin Haag also made it into the semi-finals without any problems.
In the women’s sitting class, biathlon bronze medalist Anja Wicker finished sixth in her race in the semifinals.
Messinger retires prematurely
Nico Messinger, who had hopes for a medal in the visually impaired class with guide Robin Wunderle, was the only starter in Team D who was already out in qualifying, 35 hundredths were missing to make it into the semi-finals.
Six medal decisions
There are a total of six medal decisions in the sitting, standing and visually impaired classes for women and men. The finals begin at 6:45 a.m.