Two Olympics in six months: How sprinter Alexandra Burghardt won bobsleigh silver
Beijing 2022 saw the German complete an incredible achievement after featuring at Tokyo 2020, and she made the podium.
Bobsleigh
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
Tokyo 2020
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.
Beijing 2022
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 made it and we won a medal. We couldn’t be happier. Everything went very well for us."
Jamanka called Burghardt "a big factor" in their silver, adding, "She was so strong at the start and she learned so much in the few months she had for bobsleigh. I knew I had a very strong brakewoman at the back and that gave a bit more feeling of safety."
When asked in a press conference to compare her Olympic experiences, Burghardt said: “It’s quite similar, but the outcome [in Beijing] of course is far better. We’re sitting here with a silver medal. That’s all we ever dreamt of.
"We’re just super happy that our plan to win a medal is now fulfilled and that we both had the chance in such a short time to get everything together and become a great team.”
Burghardt at Milano Cortina 2026? Probably not...
With the winter season almost over, Burghardt is already looking forward to getting back on the track to resume her sprinting career.
But could she be tempted back to the bob for Milano Cortina 2026?
Burghardt says, “I don’t think so. My heart beats for track and field and I have big goals in the summer that I want to achieve.
"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."
One of those goals will be breaking the 11-second barrier for 100m having set a personal best of 11.01 last season, and perhaps making the final at July's World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
After that, a third Olympic appearance at Paris 2024 beckons for Burghardt.