Title fights in Winterberg
Friedrich also on course for gold at the four-man bobsleigh World Championships
Bobsleigh pilot Francesco Friedrich is also on course for gold in the foursome at the World Championships. photo
© Robert Michael/dpa
Despite his fall in Altenberg, Johannes Lochner wants World Cup gold in the premier bobsleigh class. But his long-term rival Francesco Friedrich is not playing along and wants to “shock” Bayern.
A week after his victory in the two-man bobsleigh, the 33-year-old from BSC Sachsen Oberbärenburg is 0.27 seconds ahead of Johannes Lochner from Berchtesgaden at halftime of the World Cup. Adam Ammour from BRC Thuringia improved to third place and is five hundredths of a second ahead of Latvia’s Emils Cipulis.
As in the two-man race, Friedrich also set a track record in the first run of the four-man bobsleigh race and erased the nine-year-old record set by his former club colleague Nico Walther (53.48 seconds) in 53.12 seconds. Although Lochner was able to keep up with Friedrich at the start a good two weeks after his serious training fall, he lost some time on the track with his recently badly damaged sled.
Although the FES technicians were able to put the device back together again after many extra hours in the workshop, they didn’t fully utilize the bob. “We still have an option with a runner, but I think we’re not that slow on the track,” said the Olympic silver medalist and emphasized: “I’ve had silver so many times, we want gold.”
The two-time double Olympic champion Friedrich took the challenge calmly and wants to take away the dream of the title from his pursuer Lochner in the third race on Sunday. “We’ll shock them in the first run tomorrow and then the thing will be over. We’d love to be the first in the third run,” said the Saxon.