YANQING, Beijing, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Johannes Ludwig of Germany led the men's singles luge race after two runs at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games here on Saturday.
Ludwig, the World Cup winner in Yanqing last November, was followed by Wolfgang Kindl of Austria 0.039 seconds behind, and Italian Dominik Fischnaller ranked third.
Defending champion David Gleirscher from Austria was placed eighth. Former Olympic champion Felix Loch from Germany sat fourth with two runs remaining.
"The first was really, really good, (and in) the second there were some issues with the wind. I had some problems keeping the sled on its way, but I managed it," said Kindl.
Talking about Ludwig, the Austrian said, "He was really good, but not unbeatable. Four runs, everything can happen. We'll see."
Loch, the two-time Olympic gold medalist in 2010 and 2014, told Xinhua that he was not so happy because he had some little problems on the track.
"The track is really hard to drive at the moment, it's really fast. So I lost a little bit of time. Two more good runs, and we'll see what's going on," he said.
Fan Duoyao, 24, ranked 25th among 34 athletes, becoming the first Chinese luger competing on Olympic stage.
He heard a heroic welcome in the finish line after completing two clean runs.
"I am a little nervous. I know not only spectators inside the venue, but also audience out of the track, they are all watching me," Fan said.
"You need to work hard in order to level up one hundredth of a second. And you may need more than 10 years of practice to be among the elites," he added. ■
