David Gleirscher: the Olympic Champion who came from nowhere

PyeongChang (RWH) He has never finished on the podium in a Viessmann World Cup, his best result to date was a fourth place in Königssee, and he only just scraped into the Olympic squad at the last minute – David Gleirscher is the Olympic Champion who came from nowhere.

“We could tell from training that he was going to be competitive,” said Felix Loch after day one. At that point the 2010 and 2014 Olympic Champion was heading the field as planned, and the gold medal was tantalisingly within reach after the third run. But a mistake on the final run meant that the five-time World Champion missed out on his dream of a third Olympic victory in the men’s singles.

“I’d never have thought Felix would make a mistake like that,” said David Gleirscher. “I’m really sorry for him.” The President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, also had some words of comfort for Loch. The former Olympic fencing champion and the man who narrowly missed out had a discussion behind closed doors for several minutes. “It was very emotional,” Loch said afterwards. “Bach knows how it feels to suffer a big defeat. It was nice of him to offer some consolation.”

By contrast, there was unbridled joy in the village of Telfes in the Stubaital. Gleirscher’s girlfriend Larissa celebrated with seven-month-old son Leon, brother Nico, who narrowly missed out on the Olympics, and of course parents Sabine and Gerhard. “This is crazy” was probably the most used sentence on this memorable Sunday afternoon. It is not so long ago that 23-year-old David was seriously considered quitting the sport, before the rivalry with his younger brother renewed his ambition. In autumn, the Tyrolean set out his stall by setting an unofficial track record during the International Training Week run by the world federation (FIL). Despite this, he was not considered a medal candidate in the run-up to the Olympics.

Which now makes victory taste all the sweeter. “I felt more anticipation than pressure,” explained Austria’s first Olympic Champion in the men’s singles in 50 years. Manfred Schmid was the last man to take victory in Grenoble back in 1968. And now David Gleirscher is the Olympic Champion who came from nowhere.