Despite the record: the men’s quad bike missed the medal

Theo Reinhardt (Berlin), Felix Gross (Leipzig), Leon Rode (Hamburg) and Dominic Weinstein (Villingen Schwenningen) were suspended on Tuesday in Ezo in their 3:48,861 campaign against Canada. They were less than the old German record by a second and a half, but that was not enough to reach the medals. Italy, with superstar Filippo Gana, set a world record in 3:42.307 minutes.

Since the gold race in Sydney 21 years ago, Germany has been waiting for an Olympic medal in what was once a specialty of show. Four-man Germans have won five Olympic victories and 16 World Championship titles since 1962. After finishing second in the 2002 World Cup, only German teams fell behind the best in the world.

Obviously, the German team’s runners missed the medal rounds. Timo Bichler (Kaiserslautern), Stefan Bötticher (Chemnitz) and Maximilian Levy (Cottbus) clocked 42.733sec on the oval at Izu in their race against Great Britain (41.829) and finished fifth. The Netherlands won the Olympic championships, Great Britain won the silver, and France won the bronze.

Four-time Olympian Levi won a bronze medal with the team in 2008 and 2012. Five years ago in Rio, the German trio came out empty-handed. The only Olympic victory in 2004 was won by Rene Wolfe, Stefan Nimke and Jens Fiedler.