route poses challenges for the pilots
Many drivers struggled with the track and vehicle, none of them made it down the almost 1.6-kilometer route without making mistakes. Ultimately, the fight for a top spot was about taking as few gangs as possible and the number of drifts to keep low. The low pressure in the curves caused sloping bobs again and again.
Laura Nolte fell back from second to third place after the second run. She struggled in both heats in the upper part of the track, where she lost time to her opponents. Halfway through the rides, she is 1.22 seconds behind the leader. Second place is 18 hundredths away. Elana Meyers Taylors is still lurking behind the woman from Winterberg, with a difference of a tenth of a second.
Too many mistakes at Jamaica
The second German starter Mariama Jamanka didn’t get along with the track at all on the first day. In the first run, she hit the upper edge of the curve right away in turn two, in the second run it was a barrier after the fourth turn that was her undoing. The vehicle of the two-man bobsleigh Olympic champion from 2018 stood across the track several times, she lost a lot of speed and with it a lot of time. Before the final day, she is 17th, 3.69 seconds behind.
“The two runs were a disaster. I couldn’t show what was possible in training. That’s very disappointing. The curves at the beginning are the problem areas on this track and I’ve treated them extensively. I want to do at least one decent run tomorrow bring down”explained the woman from Oberhof.
Controversial monobob should ensure equal treatment
The monobob competition celebrates its Olympic premiere in Beijing. First of all I want that I.O.C to achieve gender equality, women should also have two Olympic disciplines. So far they had to be satisfied with the two-man bobsleigh.
However, the choice of vehicle is not only met with approval. Athletes have repeatedly criticized the fact that they are not allowed to start in four-man bobsleigh. Jamanka – after all, the reigning European champion in this still young discipline – explained in advance that the performance range was too large. In addition, the team sport of bobsledding would become an individual event.