NEWS FEATURE Joy and despair for Germany at the Winter Olympics By John Bagratuni, dpa

Germany‘s strong Olympic showing in South Korea reached another high in the form of a Nordic combined medal sweep but across the road its biathletes despaired after missing the podium in fourth.Pyeongchang, South Korea (dpa) - Germany is enjoying a fantastic Pyeongchang Olympics but even for this powerhouse the line between total triumph and despair can be a thin one.On Tuesday both sides of the emotional spectrum occurred within half an hour of each other and just around 500 metres apart.First Arnd Peiffer, 10 days after a surprise gold in the sprint, threw away a huge lead with poor shooting as Germany came up empty-handed in fourth place in the biathlon mixed relay - instead of getting a fourth gold in the sport.It only added insult to injury that they then also had a protest dismissed, claiming Peiffer was impeded by Italian anchor Dominik Windisch in the fight for bronze.At almost the same time the protest was dismissed, and just across the road in the cross-country stadium, Johannes Rydzek, Fabian Riessle and Eric Frenzel stormed past their last remaining rival to give the Germans a first-ever medal sweep in Nordic combined skiing.The treble lifted Germany to 23 medals in South Korea with an 11-7-5 haul, just behind Norway who lead the way with 11-10-8.Germany had hoped to regroup from the worst post-reunification tally of 19 medals four years ago in Sochi and move closer to the 30 medals won in 2010 in Vancouver - and they are well on course towards an impressive final tally with five days of competition left.But Tuesday‘s results only again highlighted that the outcome is unpredictable.Peiffer was a surprise gold medallist in the sprint, Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot needed the skate of their lives to top the figure-skating podium, and bobsledder Francesco Friedrich was lucky to finish in a dead heat with Canadian rivals for joint gold.Meanwhile luge slider Felix Loch threw away a big lead to finish fifth instead of getting a third straight gold, giant slalom skier Viktoria Rebensburg was fourth, and 45-year-old veteran speed skater Claudia Pechstein nowhere near a desired 5,000m medal.No wonder German chef de mission Dirk Schimmelpfennig had been cautious with his Games half-time assessment at the weekend."I believe we have the potential to be successful in the second week but no guarantee," he said.Nordic combined coach Hermann Weinbuch said the sweep was by far a foregone conclusion even though Frenzel had already won from the normal hill and his team swept all four golds at last year‘s worlds."It was unlikely that it would happen. Everything must come together," Weinbuch said.Back across the road the biathletes were furious that ruling body the IBU dismissed their protests, but also well aware what the real reason behind the flop was."I am terribly disappointed and I feel very sorry for my three team-mates. I messed it up, on the slope and in the shooting range," Peiffer said.