Luge ace Johannes Ludwig admits gold in the men’s singles at the Beijing Olympics is still up for grabs despite the German holding a slender lead Saturday after the first two heats.
Ludwig took bronze four years ago at the Pyeongchang Games and is just 0.039 seconds ahead of second-placed Austrian Wolfgang Kindl before Sunday’s crucial two final heats to decide the medals.
“A new race begins again tomorrow,” said Ludwig, who rates his narrow lead as hardly “an advantage at all”.
“I will analyse the heats and try to eliminate the small mistakes.
“Us lugers are perfectionists and that wasn’t 100 percent clean yet.”
The 35-year-old, this winter’s overall World Cup winner, clocked a combined leading time of 1:54.501.
He threw down a marker in the opening heat by thundering over the 1,583 metres of ice in a track-record 57.063 seconds, hitting a top speed of 132.9 kilometres (83 miles) per hour.
Yet Kindl, who was crowned European champion in St Moritz a fortnight ago, was fastest in the second, clocking 57.430 seconds to leave him just a fraction behind overall.
Italy’s Dominik Fischnaller sits in bronze position overnight, at 0.304 behind Ludwig.
Germany’s Felix Loch, who is bidding for a third singles gold, lies fourth, at 0.382 behind.
Defending Olympic champion David Gleirscher of Austria is back in eighth with it all to do.
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© Agence France-Presse