Double Olympic champion Franesco Friedrich didn’t let himself be thrown off course by a training fall and clinched an unusual first victory.
The record world champion celebrated his third success in the third race of the season in a two-seater, while the bobsleigh dominator settled his score with the ice rink in Park City.
“In the first run we weren’t good enough at the start and on the track. We put everything into the second run – that was rewarded,” said Friedrich after the triumph on Friday. The Saxon celebrated his 69th World Cup victory, but his first in Park City: “Finally!”
Together with his brakeman Thorsten Margis, Friedrich, who fell in the four-man training session, was 0.26 seconds ahead of Brad Hall. The Briton had led the field after the first of two rounds. Michael Vogt from Switzerland secured third place (+0.32).
The other German pilots followed immediately behind. Vice World Champion Johannes Lochner finished fourth with Florian Bauer (+0.40), Christoph Hafer took fifth place with Matthias Sommer (+0.47).
Before the four-man race on Saturday (9:30 p.m. CET), Friedrich only complained about minor health consequences of his mishap, the neck caused a few problems. Such a fall is “not without it, it’s not that much fun,” said Friedrich, “but that’s part of it”.