Russia (bbabo.net), - Is it possible to beat the Germans in the ice chute? This question has probably been asked by lugers and skeletonists, and now representatives of bobsledding. It is possible that the American Kylie Humphis proved in the monobob competition, but it is very difficult.

The two-man races opened the program in the men's bobsleigh at the Beijing Olympics, and from the very first attempts, the Germans Francesco Friedrich and Torsten Margis took the lead.

Our duet, consisting of the pilot Rostislav Gaytyukevich and Alexei Laptev, was considered a dark horse. Experts call Gaytyukevich the main hope of domestic bobsleigh, because in January of this year he brought a bright victory at the World Cup stage in the Latvian Sigulda in the two-man competition. Before that, ours had not won the World Cup in pairs since January 2011! But Gaytyukevich began his career in bobsleigh only in 2017. At first he acted as an overclocker, and since 2018 he has become a pilot. In just a few years, the athlete became the first number of the national team, although at first it was difficult for him to find a team to play in fours, as people were afraid to sit in a bob with a beginner.

“I devoted myself fanatically to my work, worked from year and really wanted to fly,” Gaytyukevich explained his success in an interview with Olympics.com. “I watched competitions, studied trajectories, noted something for myself. I worked both in winter and in summer. So far the guys continued to rest, I was already going out to train. I understood that I had time to catch up with the others. My family knows that I don’t have a vacation as such. If I go to the village, then I will have one training session, and there may be two at home. I don’t remember a full day of rest. If I didn’t work like that, I would hardly have progressed. "

According to the athlete, the fact that he has been riding a motorcycle since the age of 12 helped him become a good pilot, so driving is a familiar environment for him.

For the 27-year-old Rostislav, the Beijing Games are debut, and, of course, they did not expect him to fight for the victory, although the athlete himself admitted to reporters that he dreams of a podium:

- Going to the Olympics without a goal is wrong. We're going for an award. We must set the highest goals. How can we win? Specifically, I am due to the effect of surprise. Everything that I show can be attributed to luck: "Once a year, and the stick shoots." However, the experience that I got is a multiple of what it was a year or two ago. Yes, let historically it so happened that there are more chances in the top four, but I am 100 percent sure that we can fight in both types of programs.

Until the third attempt, the crew of Rostislav Gaytyukevich/Aleksey Laptev was in third place, behind only the duets of Francesco Friedrich/Thorsten Margis and one more German. Johannes Lochner/Florian Bauer.

"The position is just great for us. Of course, I would like to avoid more mistakes. It's a shame that the Germans left, but I expected this. In the first attempt, they made not quite gross mistakes, but there were several of them. Let's see what happens next We have two races ahead, nothing has been lost yet," Gaytyukevich believed in himself and his partner.

But in the third run, a piloting error dropped the domestic crew to seventh place, almost two seconds behind the leader. Everything was decided in the fourth attempt.

Our guys tried very hard, but the treacherous track does not forgive even the smallest oversights. Rostislav made a mistake and as a result our crew remained in the final protocol in eighth place - there is room to grow!

And who is on the podium? For the first time in the history of bobsledding, all three steps were taken by representatives of Germany. Gold medals deservedly hung around the neck of Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis. Silver went to Johannes Lochner and Florian Bauer, and bronze went to Chrisof Hafer and Mattias Sammer.

Where will we watch

February 16, Wednesday, First

9.00. Hockey. Men. Playoffs. Quarterfinal. Russia - Denmark. Live broadcast.

"Russia 1"

10.45. Biathlon. Women. Relay 4x6 km. Live broadcast.

12.15. Ski race. Men. Women. Team sprint. Finals. Live broadcast.

"Match TV"

7.05. Hockey. Men. Playoffs. Quarterfinal. USA - Slovakia. Live broadcast.

11.40. Hockey. Men. Playoffs. Quarterfinal. Finland - Switzerland. Live broadcast.

13.55. Freestyle. Men. Acrobatics. Final competition. Live broadcast.

15.30. Short track. (15.30). Men. Relay 5000 m. Final "B". (15.45). Men. Relay 5000 m. Final "A". (16.10). Women. 1500 m. Final "B". (16.15). Women. 1500 m Final "A". Live broadcast.

16.30. Hockey. Men. Playoffs. Quarterfinal. Sweden - Canada. Live broadcast.

"Match! Game"

9.00. Curling. Men. Russia - Great Britain. Preliminary stage. Live broadcast.

14.25. Hockey. Women. Playoffs. Match for third place. Finland - Switzerland. Live broadcast.

"Match! Arena"

8.40. Skiing. Men. Slalom. Second, final attempt. Live broadcast.14.25. Short track. (14.30). Women. 1500 m. Quarter-final. (15.15). Women. 1500 m. Semifinal. Live broadcast.

Prepared by Ilya Trisvyatsky

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