Olympic Preview Team Relay: Germany, Latvia and Austria the top favourites

Beijing (FIL) For the third time, after Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018, the Team Relay will be part of the Olympic programme in Beijing 2022. They have always been particularly exciting and emotional decisions.

Germany has been Olympic champion twice so far, twice with Natalie Geisenberger and the double Wendl/Arlt. In rotation, Felix Loch in the year 2014 and Johannes Ludwig in 2018 were part of the German gold relay team. Olympic silver medals went to Russia (competing in Beijing 2022 as ROC, Russian Olympic Committee) and to the quartet of Canada (2018). Bronze medals in the team relay went to Latvia (2014) and Austria (2018).

Six EBERSPÄCHER Team Relay World Cups presented by BMW were held in the 2021/22 Olympic season. There were four different winning relays. Germany stood at the top of the podium in Altenberg and Oberhof, Latvia in Winterberg and St. Moritz. Russia won the team relay in Sochi and Austria the premiere on the Olympic track in Yanqing.

With the second place at the final in St. Moritz, the German team won the overall relay ranking with 476 points. The winning Latvians (415) could still overtake the Austrian team (360) for second place because start skier Madeleine Egle missed the touch pad.  "Too bad about the team relay, you can see how fast it can go," said head coach René Friedl, "we're certainly warned there with regard to the Olympic Games."

This is the eleventh time, in the twelfth season, that Germany has won the Team World Cup. In the 2019/20 season, Italy and Russia tied for the overall victory.

Team relay in Beijing 2022