Christopher Grotheer gives Germany another Olympic sliding gold medal

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Germany has its first Olympic skeleton champion, and the country is simply sliding away from all challengers so far at the Beijing Olympics.

That's no surprise.

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This, however, was: China has its first Olympic sliding medal — ever.

Christopher Grotheer was a runaway winner in the men’s skeleton event that ended Friday night, the first German to win gold in the discipline where sliders navigate the icy chute headfirst at speeds that can exceed 80 mph.

Grotheer’s four-run time over two days of competition was 4:01.01. Axel Jungk, another German, won the silver medal in 4:01.67 and Yan Wengang of China won the bronze in 4:01.77.

Christopher Grotheer, of Germany, starts the men's skeleton run 3 at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 11, 2022, in the Yanqing district of Beijing.  (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

There have been five gold medals handed out so far in sliding events at these Beijing Games — all five of them won by Germans. Germany went 4-for-4 in luge events to open the sliding competitions in Beijing, and now has eight medals through five events at the Yanqing Sliding Center.

The rest of the world, combined, has seven.

The German sliding medal haul is only going to keep growing. German racers are second and third at the midpoint of the women’s skeleton event that will end Saturday night, and the world’s most dominant sliding nation will have contenders in all four of the bobsled events as well — including heavily favored Francesco Friedrich in the two- and four-man bobsled competitions.

But for the Chinese, Yan's bronze was like gold. A country that is relatively new to the sliding world invested tons