Figure skating-Germany's Seegert out for teams event with COVID

BEIJING : Germany will compete without their figure skating pairs after Nolan Seegert tested positive for COVID-19 a second time and was isolating in a hotel, the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) said on Thursday.

Seegert had been on the roster with partner Minerva Fabienne Hase for the teams competition starting at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Friday.

"Team Germany will compete in the team event but without the pair," the DOSB said in an email to Reuters.

"This way, the other team members will test the ice in a competition and will get some experience before their individual events."

It added that whether Hase is considered a close contact of Seegert's was still being determined.

The pair ranked third in the 2019/20 Grand Prix and fifth in the European Championships in 2020.

A number of athletes have been ruled out of the Feb. 4-20 Games after testing positive on arrival at the airport, while others who are asymptomatic are isolating.

(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Peter Rutherford)