Aileen Frisch free to compete for Korea in the Olympics

Seoul (RWH) Luger Aileen Frisch is now free to compete for host nation Korea at the 2018 Olympics. The 24-year-old German, who was the U23 Champion in 2013, passed her citizenship interview in Seoul, and was also able to sing the Korean national anthem as required. The procedure was necessary to enable her to compete for host nation Korea at the 2018 Winter Games. “It’s a huge weight off my shoulders”, Aileen Frisch wrote in an email.

The 2012 Junior World Champion, who had initially retired from the sport in autumn 2015 due to a lack of prospects within the German squad, is expected to make her debut in a Korean race suit at the Viessmann World Cup on the artificial ice track in Königssee in early January 2017.

The naturalisation of Aileen Frisch, who finished fifth in the World Championships in Whistler (CAN) in 2013, is not an isolated case for Olympic hosts Korea. Two Russian biathletes received their South Korean passports back in April, while the national ice hockey team features six players with foreign roots. Two figure skaters from the USA and Russia are currently also going through the citizenship process.