The title went to Nick Baumgartner and Lindsay Jacobellis of the United States, who won in a thrilling duel against Omar Visintin and Michaela Moioli (ITA) in the final. Eliot Grondin/Merita Odine from Canada got the bronze medal.
Individual Olympic champion Hammerle initially scored a confident victory for Austria in the fourth quarter-final, second only to Italy. After that, Zurkhold began his run with a lead of about three tenths of a second and led with confidence from the start. However, due to a driving error, the 23-year-old from Lower Austria completely lost her speed and was overtaken by three of her competitors.
“I’m already disappointed. I hope I can take a lot with me,” Zerhold said. “I still lack the experience of what’s to come – hopefully in the next few weeks, hopefully it will move faster.” But it was extremely difficult for him to assess the elements on a slow-moving course due to snowfall. “Then I pushed too much, so it was too short and then I stood up.” It was practically impossible to capture again. “So it’s over, I couldn’t do anything anymore.”
“I’m such an ambitious jerk”
Two days after his Olympic victory, Hammerley was again hungry for medals. “It hurts me a lot, I must say. I’m such an ambitious fool who doesn’t exist.” Nevertheless, he had “fun” and after a marathon of media and party he was fit again. “I slept well today, was very motivated and I think I could have put in a little more shuffle in the next few runs.”
After winning the individual gold, Hammerley had prepared well for the mixed team competition. “So that I can do my best and fully support Piya. Driving a team is something else, you don’t want to disappoint the others,” Vorarlberger said.
gold to the United States
The location in question, where Zerhold was too young to race, rode together in training. “I advised him to absorb a little more. Then I ride in the heat today and notice: there’s really a lot of snow, it’s a lot slower than training. So the mistake is my fault too,” Hammerley said in his Asked the fellow to take off his hat. “I prefer that we make mistakes. She is a young driver and I am sure she will learn from it.”
The victory was won by the USA team, which also scored an Olympic double gold for the 36-year-old Jacobellis. She was supported by Baumgartner, who, at 40, is the oldest US Winter Olympic champion ever since 1948.
Unlike Canada, France, Italy, the United States and Australia, Austria had only one team. The competition initially took place in heavy snowfall and was interrupted for a long time after Australian Belle Brockhoff fell heavily. Brockhoff was carried away with a rescue sledge.