Tops and flops: The big Olympic review

TOP Omar Visintin: At some point everyone gets what they deserve. While biathlete Dominik Windisch was the outstanding South Tyrolean athlete in 2018, this time Omar Visintin was the only one of the 28 South Tyrolean Olympic participants to win two medals. After bronze in the individual, he crowned his third Olympic participation with silver in the mixed team event with Michela Moioli. There was a question mark behind Visintin's participation in the Olympics: In the Boardercross World Cup in Montafon at the beginning of December 2, he fell badly. After an elbow dislocation with torn ligaments and surgery, it was a race against time. Which Visintin won impressively.

The biathletes: You can rely on them: After 2014 (mixed relay) and 2018 (mixed relay and Dominik Windisch in the sprint), head coach Andreas Zingerle's protégés also won “their” medal in 2022. Dorothea Wierer crowned her extraordinary career with her first individual medal in the sprint. Lukas Hofer also wrote a memorable chapter in Olympic history: despite a perfect competition over 20 km without a single missed shot, he finished fourth without a medal. There were also places 5 (Dominik Windisch in the mass start and the women in the relay), 6 (Dorothea Wierer in the pursuit) and 7 (men's relay). But of course: what counts at the Olympics are the medals.

Dominik Filehner: In 2018, of all 3000 Olympic participants, he was the one who missed a medal by the shortest possible time: he was 0,002 seconds short of bronze. Dominik Filehner finished with those 2 thousandths of a second in Beijing. With extremely strong nerves, he didn't let anything go wrong, didn't allow himself to be disturbed by the Corona noise around the Azzurri team and already opened the can for more South Tyrolean medals on the third day of the Olympics. Because the first medal is always the most difficult. Daniel Grassl was a positive phenomenon. © APA/afp / WANG ZHAO

Daniel Grassl: Hats off to this 19-year-old figure skater! What Daniel Grassl conjured up on the ice in Beijing was sensational. A top 10 place was actually his Olympic goal, although he came second at the European Championships in January and won silver, showing that he has nerves of steel at major events. After the short program in 12th place, he improved by 5 places with a sensational freestyle, full of extremely difficult jumps (he showed the fourth best freestyle). With 278,07 points, Grassl exceeded his personal best from the European Championships (274,48) and was the second Azzurro after 70 years to make it into the top 10 at the Olympics (6th Carlo Fassi 1952).

Roland Fischller: Always him: The Villnöss native has been pulling the cart in the Italian snowboard team for 20 years. It was no different at the ripe age of 41. Not Daniele Bagozza and Edwin Coratti – no, Fischnelller was there until the end of the parallel giant slalom. In the semi-finals he was level with the eventual Olympic champion Benjamin Karl until 3 goals before the goal, and in the small final he was also tied against Vic Wild until the end - but it wasn't to be. So Fisch's big sporting dream of an Olympic medal remains unfulfilled. Or will he continue until 2026?

Nadia Delago: Not Dominik Paris, not Christof Innerhofer, not even Alex Vinatzer. Nadia Delago won the only precious metal among South Tyrol's skiers. That wasn't to be expected given the great competition, but it's not sensational. The 24-year-old narrowly missed the podium repeatedly this year. The fact that she was there at the Olympics, of all places, shows her great coolness and strong nerves.

Silvia Bertagna: In the freestyle ski circuit, the 35-year-old is something like the “grandma” of the mostly young skiers. Her body is correspondingly battered, especially her knees. And then Bertagna crashed spectacularly and heavily in Big Air. She persevered, achieved sensational qualification in slopestyle, where she last achieved a top result 3 years ago, and finished her career in 10th place right in the middle of the world class. A legend!

Trainers and service people at home and abroad: No matter whether the ski coaches Much Mair (Italy), Luis Prenn and Roland Platzer (Switzerland), Christian Thoma (Sweden), the biathlon coaches Andreas Zingerle (Italy) and Patrick Oberegger (Norway), the Nordic combined coach Jochen Strobl (Austria), the entire team of trainers for the artificial track luge athletes, led by racing director Armin Zöggeler - but also the ski service people Sepp Kuppelwieser (Beat Feuz), Christian Gamper (Michelle Gisin) and Christoph Atz (Nadia Delago) - they all have something to do with their protégés won medals at home and abroad. FLOPS No precious metal for alpine ski men: As in 2018, the expectations were high and justified given the previous World Cup results. Only: Dominik Paris, Christof Innerhofer and Alex Vinatzer didn't win any medals. There was also unrest in the speed team away from the pistes because Matteo Marsaglia was supposed to make room for Mattia Casse in the Super-G for flimsy reasons. If these incidents, coupled with the inability to not know the rules because of the so-called quota system, do not result in any consequences at the end of the season, then good night. Then even an exceptional driver like Dominik Paris will have an extremely difficult time in the speed team's stuck car.

Corona devil: First, the Nordic combined athlete Samuel Costa wasn't allowed to travel at all, then Kevin Fiwickeler was hit in Beijing, then bronze winner Dominik Fiwickeler, and finally Leon Felderer: The artificial track sledders in particular were caught by Corona right at the Olympics. The worst hit was Kevin Fischler, who was not even able to take part in his competition. Dominik Filehner also had to miss the team relay. With him maybe bronze would have been possible. All other South Tyroleans made it through the games unscathed, the price of self-isolation and foregoing social contacts was high. Medal and quarantine: Dominik Fiwickeler. © ANSA / GUILLAUME HORCAJUELO

Nordic combined athletes: The Italian Nordic combined athletes are no longer competitive. Even the former figurehead Alessandro Pittin is now only a shadow of his former self, let alone Samuel Costa. The man from Val Gardena was first slowed down by Corona, then he crashed in his two Olympic competitions.

The need to catch up in several disciplines: The South Tyrolean winter sports association FISI likes to boast of being a particularly successful one. However, it is a fact that with 27 participants (Daniel Grassl started for the ice sports association FISG) it was the smallest South Tyrolean team since 1994. If the great generation around Dorothea Wierer, Dominik Windisch, Christof Innerhofer, Roland Fiwickeler, Emanuel Perathoner and a few others should possibly break up, then things don't necessarily look rosy. Not to mention the lack of Olympic-ready athletes in some disciplines such as ski cross, snowboard cross, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined and ski jumping. This also applies to curling and short track at the ice sports association. The associations are called upon here because time is short. In 4 years the home Olympic Games will be in Milan, Cortina and Antholz. The fact that world-class athletes will mature by then remains an exciting, almost utopian task.

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Tops and flops: The big Olympic review

The 24th Olympic Winter Games are history – with 5 medals for South Tyrol. S+ has identified the tops and flops. An Olympic balance sheet from a South Tyrolean perspective.

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