Two Olympics in six months: How sprinter Alexandra Burghardt won bobsleigh silver

Making it to one Olympic Games is an incredibly impressive achievement for any athlete.

But Germany's Alexandra Burghardt managed to compete at two Games in just over six months.

Not only did she make it to Beijing 2022 after competing at last year's delayed Tokyo 2020, she even won a medal this time around.

But her silver in the two-woman bobsleigh with Mariama Jamanka looks set to be a one-off as she wants to return to sprinting.

"It was a very cool experience for me. I learned so much for life and I met so many awesome people. But I’m definitely going back to track." - Alexandra Burghardt

Burghardt's first appearance at the Olympic Games came in athletics in the summer of 2021.

She reached the semi-finals of the 100m and then helped Germany to fifth in the women's 4x100m relay alongside Rebekka Haase, Tatjana Pinto and Gina Luckenkemper.

This came after she had won German national titles last year over 100m and 200m.

Despite having never sat in a bobsled until November 2020, Burghardt was soon taken on as a brakewoman by PyeongChang 2018 gold-medal winning pilot Jamanka.

They finished fourth on their World Cup debut a year later and had two podium finishes before going to Beijing.

There they took silver behind fellow Germans Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi.

When asked about winning silver six months after competing at Tokyo 2020, Burghardt told Olympics.com: “I’m super grateful for this opportunity and for the trust everyone put in me, especially Mariama. It’s just amazing to ride the sled with her. I’m speechless.

"Of course it wasn’t easy. But Mariama is very experienced and I have quite a background in track and field. We tried to make the best out of it, not everything was perfect in the end. Now we’re here and we