Shiva Keshavan is among 40 sliders competing in the men’s singles luge event at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics 2018.
The top three sliders with the best overall timing across four runs will win the medals.
After three out of four runs, Keshavan’s overall timing is 2:28.188, which is 5.329 seconds slower than the leader, Felix Loch (2:22.859).
Keshavan ended Pyeongchang 2018 at 34th out of 40, as only the top 20 lugers compete in the fourth run.
7.25 pm: What an amazing final round that was! David Gleirscher’s timing of 47.631 in the fourth run was only the fourth fastest in that heat and when he was done, it looked like it would be a bronze at best for the Austrian.
However, the USA’s Chris Mazdzer was even slower with 47.677, which put him into the bronze position and pushed Gleirscher up to silver. With three-time gold medallist Felix Loch being the last luger on the track, it seemed like he would easily win gold.
However, a couple of big errors by the German meant he ended up with his worst timing across four runs – 48.109 – which was 19th fastest in the fourth run and pushed him down to fifth in the overall standings.
Felix Loch ended out of the podium. Who would have thought! That’s all from me. Hope you enjoyed this live blog.
7.15 pm: Here are the three medallists:
Gold: David Gleirscher (Austria)
Silver: Chris Mazdzer (USA)
Bronze: Johannes Ludwig (Germany)
7.07 pm: Felix Loch was inconsolable after ending outside the podium, which was inconceivable going into the final run. His final timing was 48.109.
7.05 pm: Oh my word! What drama! Felix Loch, multiple-time Olympic champion who was leading the pack through the first three runs, makes a couple of grave errors in his final run and ends up fifth! This means Austria’s David Gleirscher takes gold, USA’s Chris Mazdzer gets silver and Loch’s compatriot Johannes Ludwig has a bronze.
6.55 pm: Germany’s Johannes Ludwig takes a few bumps on his final run but his timing of 47.603 is good enough to take him into gold medal position. The top three lugers are still to come though.
6.50 pm: Kindl’s track record doesn’t last long as Italy’s Dominik Fischnaller sets a new one – 47.475 – to take the lead! The top five are still to come so the record could be broken more times!
6.40 pm: Austria’s Wolfgang Kindl sets a new track record – 47.521 – which puts him into gold medal position! However, we’re only halfway through the top 20 who are competing in this final medal run and that line-up could change.
6.24 pm: Maciej Kurowski of Poland kicks things off in the final medal run and he clocks 47.885. The USA’s Taylor Morris, up second in the line-up, immediately beats him, clocking 47.824.
6.20 pm: Correction: It was incorrectly stated earlier that the third run was Keshavan’s penultimate one. It was in fact his final Olympic run as only the top 20 lugers will slide in Run 4. Keshavan’s final position at Pyeongchang 2018 is 34th.
5.55 pm: Run 4 begins at 6.20 pm IST, which is in another 25 minutes. Stay tuned...
5.50 pm: Shiva Keshavan’s timing of 48.900 is the 30th best out of 40 in Run 3. His overall timing across three runs is 2:28.188, which is 5.329 seconds slower than the leader, Felix Loch (2:22.859). Keshavan’s overall position in the table is still 34th, like it was after Run 2. Here is how the leaderboard (top 10) looks after three runs:
5.47 pm: Like yesterday, Keshavan celebrates the end of his run along with the Indian spectators. This was his final Olympic run, as only the top 20 will get a fourth run.
5.45 pm: Shiva Keshavan finishes Run 3 with 48.900 and that gets him up to 28th in the line-up with six lugers still to go. Keshavan’s start was not good as he took a bump but then recovered well to end up in the 48s.
5.27 pm: Poland’s Mateusz Sochowicz, for reasons unknown, went for his run without a visor on his helmet! Considering his view must have been obstructed by a spray of ice throughout his run, his timing of 48.930 is quite impressive! Almost time now for Shiva Keshavan, as we enter the last 10 in the line-up.
5.20 pm: We’re done with 25 out of 40 lugers in Run 3 and this is how the leaderboard (top 10) looks so far:
5.10 pm: The USA’s Tucker West, who was 18th in the line-up, is the first luger in Run 3 to finish out of the 47s. He took a few bumps on the way as he lost his lines and that cost him vital micro seconds. The American, who holds the start record on this track, ended up with 49.593 and he’ll be disappointed with that.
4.50 pm: We’re done with the first 10 lugers in this third run and all of them have finished in the 47s. Roman Repilov, who is currently 10th fastest in Run 3, is behind Mazdzer’s track record by only 0.414 seconds! Insane!
4.45 pm: What do you know! Chris Mazdzer of the USA has outdone Felix Loch and set a new track record! It’s 47.534 and that puts the American in the silver medal position behind Loch. Austria’s David Gleirscher, who was the fastest in Run 1, is currently third in the standings.
4.40 pm: The track leader Felix Loch kicks of Run 3 and sets a new track record immediately – 47.560. Simply amazing! It’s going to take something special to beat this man.
4.28 pm: There were some amazing scenes on Saturday after Keshavan’s second run when he jumped into the crowd, where there were plenty of Indian supporters.
4.20 pm: Hello and welcome to The Field’s live blog of the luge men’s singles runs 3 and 4, which will decide who wins the medals at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
Shiva Keshavan is currently placed 34th in the overall standings after the first two runs on Saturday with a timing of 1:39.288, which is 3.989 seconds slower than the pack leader, Felix Loch of Germany.
Loch is aiming to become the sport’s first four-time gold medallist as the final two runs of men’s singles are contested on Sunday.
If you missed Saturday’s action, here’s a recap.