![Germany's Tim Tscharnke (l) after the finish with teammate Hannes Dotzler. The two finished seventh after Tscharnke fell a few hundred meters before the finish as a result of a tangle with Finnish anchor Sami Jauhojärvi. Finland took gold and Germany placed seventh.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/02/IMG_2127.jpg")
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KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia — Things are not necessarily popping up daisies in Deutschland, especially for fans of cross-country skiers.
After the women’s team of Stefanie Böhler and Denise Herrmann finished fourth in the 1.3-kilometer classic team sprint, 1.15 seconds off the podium behind Norway, Finland, and Sweden, respectively, the men’s team lost out on a sure-bet medal in the last few hundred meters before the finish.
Tim Tscharnke had anchored Germany in impressive form, attacking on the final steep climb before a curving descent down toward the grandstand. The 24-year-old, who teamed up with Axel Teichmann to win silver in the 2010 Olympic freestyle team sprint, was in the hunt for gold — this time with teammate Hannes Dotzler. At the very least, with three men up front after gapping the field, it appeared he’d get bronze.
Tscharnke led into the downhill and teetered initially in the soft snow in one of the most fatiguing races of the Olympics. Going wide around the bend, he started to cut back in as Finland’s Sami Jauhojärvi took the inside lane and came out in front of him. Jauhojärvi’s skis slid over Tscharnke’s, and the German fell to the ground, nearly taking out Russia’s Nikita Kriukov with him.
“[He] was in the wrong lines — he was in the lines for lapping,” Tscharnke said of Jauhojärvi. “I wanted to go to the finish and he crossed my way. I thought Finland take the wrong way with lapping, it wasn’t lapping and I wanted to go to the finish lines, and it was crossing my way. Sh*t.”
Kriukov stepped to another lane and stayed on his feet, skiing behind Jauhojärvi for silver. Finland, with Iivo Niskanen, won its first Olympic gold since 1998 and the two teammates immediately reveled in the glory, dancing backward across the finish, grabbing a Finnish flag and soaking up the moment. Tscharnke took a while to recover and ended up seventh out of nine teams, 42.13 seconds behind Finland.
In the moments that followed, the Germans launched a protest against Finland, claiming Jauhojärvi obstructed Tscharnke. Before the flower ceremony could commence, the jury decided whether the move warranted a disqualification, and ultimately rejected the Germans’ case.
German press officer Stefan Schwarzbach said the appeal was rejected, but they had 48 hours to appeal — if they choose to do so.
“The question is, if it is really, really senseful,” he said. “We don’t understand. We haven’t decided yet [if we’re going to appeal] … The opportunities are really, really small because what would happen? Maybe the Finnish team will be disqualified, but there was no case we can remember that the team which was kicked off got a medal after.”
If their appeal was accepted, the most likely result would be that Norway — the fourth-place men’s team — would get bumped up to bronze.
“[Whether that will] help us, that’s the question,” Tscharnke said. “When I’m from Norway or from Finland or from France, they would be disqualified, but we are from Germany and it’s the same when you are from Russia: nothing will happen.”
“It’s sad,” German team organizer Bjørn Weisheit said. “It was the second chance for us today.”
As for the mood of the team, he said, “It’s sad and pissed off.”
Alex Kochon
Alex Kochon (alexkochon@gmail.com) is a former FasterSkier editor and roving reporter who never really lost touch with the nordic scene. A freelance writer, editor, and outdoor-loving mom of two, she lives in northeastern New York and enjoys adventuring in the Adirondacks. She shares her passion for sports and recreation as the co-founder of "Ride On! Mountain Bike Trail Guide" and a sales and content contributor at Curated.com. When she's not skiing or chasing her kids around, Alex assists authors as a production and marketing coordinator for iPub Global Connection.
5 comments
yoppy
February 19, 2014 at 11:58 am
It’s really to bad the German man fell, that’s probably all people will remember of the winners of the team sprint. The Finnish guys skied well in classic these entire Olympics, so it’s nice to see them get a medal, but it would have been better to have a three man sprint rather than a two man sprint at the finish. One has to think, the lanes heading to the lap lane must be considerably faster given the amount of traffic they’ve had over the course of the day, so if your in the front, it makes sense to go for the fastest lanes. After Krista let Kalla push her out in the relay on the last turn, it’s good the Finns finely learned to ski the inside lines. Denise Hermann didn’t let Kalla push her out on the second to last corner in the relay.
How about those oneway’s, they had some seriously good glide.
joeconn4
February 19, 2014 at 3:23 pm
Watching live, the straight ahead camera, I thought Germany had a legit protest. But the overhead camera changed my mind.
chrispella
February 19, 2014 at 4:42 pm
It seemed like the German skier sat there for a moment after crashing. If he had bounced back up instead of sulking he probably could have at least had a chance at a bronze. Maybe he used to play football and was waiting for the ref to bring out a red card.
The long, hilly course didn’t favor pure sprinters and I’m puzzled why the Norwegians picked Hattestad to anchor, when they had a guy like Eldar Roenning who can do both classic distance and sprint.
Lars
February 20, 2014 at 9:01 pm
Its true that what the fin did was legal. But it shudent be. There need to be some judgment on display even when you in the lead. I think it was sad to see Germany go down they skied great and deserved a medal.
Chris i agree whit you Hattestad on the relay was a mistake. Sprint relay dosent really favor sprinters. Particularly on the first leg so Rønning or Sundby would have been a better choice.
Morten
February 20, 2014 at 11:51 pm
Rønning has been out of shape since Christmas, so I think that Hattestad (considering his gold from the sprint) was the better choice on paper. If it was up to me I’d rather have Jespersen on the anchor leg, but I suspect both him and Sundby wouldn’t want to race the TS as they are saving up energy for the 50km on Sunday.
The results thus far haven’t been as good as we had imagined or hoped, and I think that Løfshus and Nystad should have picked Østensen and Sveen over Gjerdalen and Rønning for mens team. But thats 20/20 hindsight for you!