The dream of an Olympic medal has burst for snowboard hopeful Ramona Hofmeister.
The 25-year-old from Bischofswiesen, who won bronze in Pyeongchang in 2018, was surprisingly eliminated in the quarter-finals of the parallel giant slalom against Austrian Daniela Ulbing. The World Cup leader Stefan Baumeister had previously failed to qualify. Victory went to snowboard superstar Ester Ledecká, who won the final against Daniela Ulbing from Austria. Bronze goes to Gloria Kotnik (Slovenia).
“Everything was turbulent and not my day, it just didn’t fit. It’s somehow all very crazy today,” said the dejected Hofmeister. In qualifying, she had set the second-best time.
“Of course it’s a huge dream to be able to fly home again as an Olympic champion,” Hofmeister said in the run-up to the games in the “SID” interview. Shortly before the start, she reaffirmed that her dream of gold was “not unrealistic”. Minor driving errors threw a spanner in the works.
“It’s a shame for Ramona, the disappointment must be deep,” said ARD expert Selina Jörg, who won silver in Pyeongchang. Hofmeister’s teammate from Bischofswiesen, Carolin Langenhorst, was also eliminated in the quarter-finals. For Melanie Hochreiter it was over after qualifying.
Hofmeister had already trembled in the round of sixteen. In the duel against Tomoka Takeuchi, she benefited from a disqualification of the Japanese after both fell almost at the same time. However, race officials ruled that Takeuchi had obstructed Hofmeister in her fall.
Baumeister, (Aising-Pang), who had been considered one of the favorites due to strong performances in the Olympic season, was only 18th in qualifying after a first weak run and a second good run. Elias Huber (30./Schellenberg) also dropped out early . Only the top 16 athletes progressed. Lengdorfer Yannik Angenend narrowly lost his round of 16.