The German bobsleigh men apparently cannot be beaten at the World Championships in Winterberg. Francesco Friedrich leads at halftime ahead of Adam Ammour and Johannes Lochner.
Although Friedrich has yet to win this season in this discipline, he was in impressive form on Saturday (February 24, 2024). In both the first and second rounds, the most successful bobsledder in history improved the track record, which now stands at 54.54 seconds. The reason: an outstanding starting phase in which Friedrich and Alexander Schüller were able to take decisive meters away from all of their opponents.
“We have managed to be fit to the point, but nothing has been decided yet. The weather throughout the week was such that anything could happen“, said Friedrich. The lead over his teammate Ammour is 0.22 seconds in the final on Sunday. The brother duo Ammour won the last three World Cups in February, and they also showed their class at the World Cup. “Second place after two rounds isn’t so bad. We might be able to get something out of it at the start and gain a bit more momentum, but the rides were great” Ammour said happily.
Lochner: “The rides weren’t good”
Lochner made a mistake at the start of both runs, so the gap to his big rival is already 0.52 seconds. The 33-year-old, who has already celebrated four victories in the two-man bobsleigh this World Cup winter, is 0.3 seconds behind Ammour. The youngster was faster than the veteran in both rounds.
“It wasn’t right today, we definitely have to analyze that again. The rides weren’t good but it doesn’t help now, we have to do better tomorrow“said Lochner in the Sportschau interview.”We made too many mistakes and then had a slow start – it just doesn’t work that way.“
German dominance from the start
The three German teams had already demonstrated their outstanding position in the two-man bobsleigh in the first run. Friedrich was the first to start with Alexander Schüller and immediately set a track record of 54.67 seconds. He was immediately followed by Lochner, who was 0.25 seconds slower, while Ammour, the third starter, was only 0.06 seconds behind. All of the other 25 starters were unable to keep up with the pace; Frank del Duca (USA) was already 0.40 seconds behind in fourth place.
At halftime, Bradley Hall (Great Britain) is in place behind the German trio and is already 0.79 seconds behind. Everything indicates that all the medals in Winterberg will remain in Germany.