At the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Italy Ice hockey player Leon Draisaitl and ski jumper Katharina Schmid are the German flag bearers. This is the result of a vote among sports fans and the team for the games in Milan and Cortina, as the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) announced. Draisaitl will carry the German flag into Milan’s Giuseppe Meazza Stadium, while Schmid will receive this honor at the ceremony in Predazzo.
Around 135,000 Olympic fans cast their votes in the online election for the German flag-bearer duo for the opening ceremony of the Winter Games – more than before the Winter Olympics in Beijing four years ago, when 120,000 people took part in the vote. According to the DOSB, the previous record for this public vote was held before the Summer Games in Paris in 2024, in which half a million sports fans took part.
Draisaitl was Athlete of the Year 2020
Draisaitl prevailed in the vote against Nordic combined athlete Johannes Rydzek and luger Tobias Wendl. Schmid was ahead of bobsleigh pilot Laura Nolte and snowboarder Ramona Hofmeister. “Whoever it is, it will be a worthy duo,” said Chef de Mission Olaf Tabor shortly before the election results were announced. Most recently, an ice hockey player carried the German flag at the closing ceremony of the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang after the German silver medal in Christian Ehrhoff.
Draisaitl said after his nomination: “It’s something very, very special. I mean, when can you as an athlete be able to run ahead of your entire nation at a tournament, at an Olympics and represent the country. That would be an absolute highlight for me.”
It’s the first Winter Olympics for the Edmonton Oilers striker. In Canada, Draisaitl enjoys superstar status and is currently the world’s highest-paid ice hockey player with an eight-year, $112 million contract. He was also named Germany’s Athlete of the Year in 2020.
Schmid ends his career after the Olympics
Katharina Schmid is taking part in the Winter Games for the fourth time. For the seven-time world champion, the Predazzo competitions are the last major highlight of an eventful career. “It would be an incredible honor if I were allowed to come in as flag bearer,” she said shortly before the decision. “You only get a chance like that once in your life.”
At the age of 15, Schmid took part in the World Cup for the first time in the 2011/12 season. She was there when the jumpers took part in Sochi for the first time in 2014 Olympia started. In 2018 in South Korea and four years later in China, Schmid won silver in the individual.
Schmid always fought for equality in ski jumping. However, she will only experience the upcoming premiere of her ski long jump colleagues at the next Four Hills Tournament as a spectator. Shortly after Christmas, Schmid announced the end of her career this spring.
