Sylke Otto, Georg Hackl and Florschütz/Wustlich
Calgary (pps) The first Krombacher Challenge Cup in the Olympic Winter ended in Calgary/ Canada with a German triple success by Sylke Otto, Georg Hackl and Andre Florschütz/Torsten Wustlich.
Sylke Otto, who broke her own track record despite a broken foot in the semi-finals with 44.269 seconds, beat her team-mates Silke Kraushaar (44.696) and Barbara Niedernhuber (44.697) in the final with 44.455 seconds.
Three-times Olympic champion Georg Hackl (45.302) came out on top against his team-mate Karsten Albert (45.356) and World Champion Armin Zöggeler (45.461) from Italy.
The World Champions Andre Florschütz/ Torsten Wustlich (44.461, who also had improved their own track record (44.268) in the semi-final, were in a class of their own in the doubles’ competition. The Germans were placed first in front of the Canadians Chris Moffat/Eric Pothier (45.614) and Kurt Brugger/Wilfried Huber from Italy (44.663).
Quotes:
Sylke Otto (Germany, two-time World Champion):
"The last run was the best of all three. My track record was not at risk only because the track wasn`t sprayed before the final. This is a good start into the season. My foot didn`t create any problems for me during my runs".
Georg Hackl (Germany, three-time Olympic champion):
"This is a good opportunity to warm up. It is training under difficult conditions. Many athletes did not put their cards on the table yet. Calgary is ideal for us for testing under North American conditions."
Wolfgang Harder
