Olympic journey through time – today: February 15th

On February 15th, too, it is important to report on an Olympic victory by a South Tyrolean - with particular historical value: Just as Paul Hildgartner and Walter Plaikner won gold in the double-seater toboggan competition in 1972 with a GDR sled, it was the same on February 15th, 1998 Montaler Günther Huber, who had to share the Olympic victory with a Canadian sled together with his brakeman Antonio Tartaglia.

The duel between pilots Günther Huber and Pierre Lueders in the four runs couldn't have been more exciting: In the first run, Huber was five hundredths of a second faster than his rival, who then nibbled closer and closer with a bonus of one hundredth in each of the second and third runs and three hundredths in the final fourth run. The stalemate was perfect, both couples were able to call themselves Olympic champions - and the Bob Deutschland I won bronze.

Here is a video document of the highly dramatic bobsleigh race.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0byii9EMSM

Four years earlier, an 18-year-old girl caused a sensation in Lillehammer and won two bronze medals: the up-and-coming Isolde Kostner came third in the super-G and downhill. In the Super-G it almost became silver, because when it seemed that the medals were going to go to the American Diann Roffe, Kostner and the Swede Pernilla Wiberg, the Russian Varvara Gladyschewa finished with a high starting number and took silver goal and displaced “Isi” Kostner.

The Haflinger rider Morena Gallizio also made it into the top field in the Olympic Super-G in Lillehammer and came fifth.

If you want, you can also watch a video of it, but with a commentary in French and a bit long.

Since all good things come in threes, there is a third Olympic medal that was awarded to South Tyrolean athletes on February 15th: At the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, the tobogganers Gerhard Plankensteiner and Oswald Haselrieder secured bronze in a highly dramatic doubles race.

While the Olympic victory for the Austrians Wolfgang and Andreas Linger was clear and second place was relatively safe for the Germans André Florschütz and Torsten Wustlich, the fight for bronze turned into a thriller. After the two runs, four sleds were within just three hundredths of a second - with a happy ending for Plankensteiner/Haselrieder. Christian Oberstolz / Patrick Gruber ended up in fifth place, just 26 thousandths of a second behind their teammates.

There is also a video document of this:

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Olympic journey through time – today: February 15th

Day after day, “SportNews” looks back at South Tyrolean Olympic highlights that happened on that particular day at some point in the past. This time it's February 15th.

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