The day before he had given up training. Christopher Grotheer likes to leave the planned scheme, listen to his body and his motivation. Result of listening: He felt splendid. It probably didn’t get much better, so he left the skeleton in the corner.
The day after that he was Olympic champion. Like everyone else, the athlete from Wernigerode, starting for the BSR Oberhof, still had to ride runs three and four on the Yanqing ice track, and Grotheer did the right thing in saving his optimal skiing feeling into the finals overnight. He still made a few mistakes, but so what? There was a reason for the good feeling on Thursday, namely a lead of almost a second – it’s extremely comfortable on the ice track. Also practical: Grotheer’s German teammate Axel Jungk (BSC Oberbärenburg) had dived into the track ahead of him as second best overall after the third run and had initially taken first place. China’s Yan Wengang won bronze.
So nothing could happen to the overall project of the two Germans, and Grotheer pulled his skeleton through the track again like on a string, and even if he made a few mistakes in the now familiar turn 13 – it was still enough and the cheering of the hopping and hugging musclemen in their thin body suits was huge, because there was more at stake.
This double victory was in fact a triple success. Once for Grotheer, once for Jungk and once for the entire federal skeleton. Since 1928 this still quite niche upside-down lawn has been Olympic. And even if it was not picked up again until 1948, dropped again and finally been a permanent feature in the program since 2002, in all this time no German has ever slipped into the medal ranks. The top nations were the North Americans, Russians, Swiss, Austrians, Latvians and South Koreans, but nobody from Wernigerode or Oberbärenburg was at the top.
Grotheer and Jungk complemented each other well at the Olympics
So Grotheer and Jungk complemented each other well and benefited from each other, and of course also from the Berlin research center for the development of sports equipment, which, among other things, had already prepared all the German sleds that had won at least gold in every race in Beijing tobogganing. On the other hand, on a skeleton like this, you first have to find your way down unchecked on this slippery slope.
In order to do this almost four times perfectly, you not only have to start explosively and lie streamlined, but also think unconventionally. Grotheer, who used to ski jump as a teenager before throwing himself into the track instead of into the air, apparently often leaves something out. He not only gave up training, but also his new sled. The old, actually less developed skeleton was still at hand and obviously suited this track perfectly.
On him, Grotheer said he would be even faster, even if he allowed himself a few mistakes. So less was more, because Grotheer also set a track record in the first of four heats, remained largely flawless, set another best time and then probably slept very well before Friday and heats three and four.
He not only started late with this sport, but also found success late. He only became world champion in 2020 on the very selective track in Altenberg, which surprised everyone. In Yanqing he said he likes to drive at the limit, he loves the “great feeling that everything fits from top to bottom”. In fact, one can agree, not only at Grotheer, but also at Jungk everything went well that evening in Yanqing.