Record world champion Francesco Friedrich is putting things right again in the two-man bobsleigh and leading a German triple victory at the home World Cup in Winterberg. Lisa Buckwitz shone again in the monobob.
The result of the last two-man bobsleigh race in Sigulda must have been tough on Friedrich. In third place, he had to give way to his great adversary Johannes Lochner for the first time this season. In Winterberg, the competition on Saturday (January 4th, 2025) went again according to the ideas of the four-time Olympic champion.
Together with pusher Alexander Schüller, he relegated Lochner (with Joshua Bag) to third place with a lead of 0.62 seconds after two runs. Adam Ammour made an impressive comeback after his falls in four-man bobsleigh training on Thursday and at the last World Cup in Sigulda and finished in second place with pusher Benedikt Hertel (+0.21 seconds) after a strong second run.
Friedrich starts with a track record
Friedrich returned to Winterberg with more than good memories. Here he won his 15th and 16th world championship titles in both the two-man and four-man bobsleigh last year. He already proved how much he likes the ice track in the first run when he set a new track record – almost befitting his status. Lochner (+0.27) and Ammour (+0.31) didn’t even come close to his 54.05 seconds. Brad Hall (Great Britain) in fourth place was half a second behind Friedrich.
Even in the second run, Friedrich hardly left anything to burn. Although he lost a little time on Ammour at the start, he then drove flawlessly into the valley and was able to maintain his lead without any major problems.
Monobob – Buckwitz cannot be beaten again
In the monobob, Lisa Buckwitz continues where she left off last year: The 30-year-old from BRC Thuringia achieved her second victory of the season in the monobob in Winterberg – including a track record.
The overall World Cup winner started the second run as the leader, but was only 0.03 seconds ahead of Melanie Hasler. The Swiss had a strong performance in the final and put her last remaining competitor under pressure for the day’s victory.
Victory with a track record
But Buckwitz kept her nerve and, after a strong start, was even able to extend her lead and, with 58.25 seconds, also shattered the track record previously set by Australian Breeana Walker, who came third (+0.28). Buckwitz’ lead over Hasler was 0.09 seconds at the finish. It was the second victory of the season in the third race for the third place in the World Cup. She also takes sole lead in the overall ranking.
Still, she wasn’t completely satisfied. “There were small mistakes everywhere, and the start didn’t go so well because I had been training hard for two weeks recently. You can build on that now” said Buckwitz, who surprisingly became the two-man Olympic champion in Pyeongchang in 2018 as Mariama Jamanka’s pusher.
Nolte misses the podium for the first time
Like in Sigulda, Laura Nolte also had to let her teammate go first. The local hero from Winterberg only came fifth (+0.42). Before the second run, Nolte was in fourth place, 0.18 seconds behind Buckwitz. But on her home track, of all places, the two-man bobsleigh Olympic champion had a wobble at the start and was unable to make up the deficit in the ice chute.
“I’m happy with the start times, but corner zero wasn’t right twice, so you can’t catch up“, said Nolte, who won the first race of the season in Altenberg.
Kim Kalicki also missed the podium. After two fourth places at the start, the 27-year-old from Wiesbaden only managed eighth place this time (+0.66). At halftime, Kalicki was still in eleventh place.