Singles, Men1

Although the Germans, who dominated the podium in 1964, were now split into East and West Germany, their lugers were still the best in the world. Innsbruck bronze medallist Hans Plenk (West German) had won the 1965 World Championships, while defending Olympic champion Thomas Köhler won the 1967 title (the 1966 championships were cancelled due to bad weather). Other German medal hopes were 1967 European Champion Leonhard Nagenrauft and Köhler’s double partner, Klaus-Michael Bonsack, also the 1964 silver medallist. But the Germans were upset by Austria’s Manfred Schmid. Schmid was mostly known for his silver medal in the doubles at the 1967 World Championships, and not considered a potential medallist at Villard-de-Lans. On unpaid leave from his job as a metal worker, he surprisingly mingled with the top Germans in the training runs. Schmid’s father died on the day before the first run was finally held (after several days delay due to poor weather), but Schmid decided to compete anyway. His 57.16-second run was 0.14 faster than Plenk, and much faster than the East Germans. Köhler and Bonsack countered in the second and third runs, but a showdown in the 4th run was not to be when the organizers decided to cancel the final run, declaring Schmid Olympic Champion.