‘Franz’ was to become a bobsleigh celebrity – and he succeeded

Germany’s Francesco Friedrich (31) is one of the most dominant bobsleighers in the history of the sport. Seven-time world champion in two-man, four-time world best in four-man bob, and Olympic champion in both sleds four years ago in Pyeongchang. Last Tuesday he defended his title in the two-man bob with great force majeure on the bob track in Yanqing. This weekend, on the last days of the Winter Games, the helmsman in the four-man bob is again the big favorite for gold. Friedrich – Franz to close friends – has been virtually unbeatable for five years now. How is that possible?

In the weeks leading up to the Beijing Winter Games, the German bobsleigh team withdrew from the outside world at the Olympic training center in Kienbaum, not far from Berlin. The fear of a corona infection is great, because there is a lot to lose. The bob teams are split among themselves, train and eat alone, to spread the risk as much as possible. Getting sick now would mean pure destruction of capital. Millions have been invested in Francesco Friedrich in particular. He has been trying to become the best bobsleigher in the world since he was 16.

In the early 2000s, the well-known East German trainer Gerd Leopold (63), formerly accomplished marathon runner in Dresden, searched the national bobsleigh center that he had founded in the Saxon town of Riesa in the early 2000s for talents who could continue the German hegemony in the sport. No country has been Olympic champion more often in the men’s two- and four-man bob since 1924 – nine times, with Switzerland at an appropriate distance. At the Games that are now underway, the Germans have already won twelve medals in or on a sled. A record.

Leopold’s eye fell on a large, strong and above all fast boy from Pirna, near the Czech border. Not only could he sprint well, but he was also athletic in his upper body. This is useful if you want to quickly move a bobsled of more than 180 kilos from its place.

In the early years, Friedrich often won his competitions at the start. He was out of the way so much faster than his competitors that his driving skills further down the track didn’t have to be optimal. That came with age. But Leopold, who already made a Norwegian bobsleigh team Olympic champion in 1992, had seen enough. He would make Franz a celebrity.

68 partners

Bobsleigh is just an expensive sport. The material for an Olympic bob can easily cost a ton. Not to mention the development costs: the wind tunnel tests, manufacturing parts for steering, sliding and braking. In 2010 Leopold therefore went to the mayor of Pirna. Whether he had an interest in sponsoring an eighteen-year-old boy so that he would return as an Olympic champion and therefore a celebrity in a few years’ time. You couldn’t ask for better marketing, Leopold said. Bobteam Friedrich had started with a starting capital of 5,000 euros and six sponsors.

After each sporting success, the interest of companies to commit to the bobsleigh project grew. There are now 68 partners willing to invest in Friedrich. The team would not say what the annual budget is. But there is enough money to do things that other countries can only dream of.

Until last season, Francesco Friedrich spent twelve hours preparing the irons under his sled for every World Cup race. They must be properly polished and sharpened, by hand. It listens closely. It is different for every job. Friedrich spent three hours per iron, times four is twelve hours. He prepared the reserve set a little less meticulously. In total, he stood on his feet for eighteen hours before each match. Time that he could have spent on training, nutrition or recovery.

Friedrich is known as a perfectionist. He wanted to continue preparing the irons himself, but it had to be less time-consuming. He first bought a drill and manufactured a disc to sand and polish the irons. Seeing that it worked, he bought four, one for each member of the four-man crew. That already significantly reduced the preparation time. But it could be even more efficient.

In the Olympic season he had a machine developed that could take over the polishing and grinding for him. Friedrich only had to set the desired accents and the right amount of diamond paste and his base was always perfectly prepared.

Gerd Leopold does not want to reveal what the machine looks like and who the developer is. That would unnecessarily fool the competition. But the idea came from Friedrich himself. “It’s not a complicated technique,” says Leopold. “Every mechanical engineer will agree. The machine easily fits in a suitcase. Is no bigger than a typewriter.” Leopold is sure: “No other country has this device.”

katsu

To keep Team Friedrich fresh after ten years of collaboration, Leopold looks for new impulses every season. For example, he introduced yoga a few years ago to keep the big, strong bobsleighers flexible. His latest trick comes from Japan and is called kaatsu. This is a technique, patented in the late 1990s by the Japanese doctor Yoshiaki Sato, in which the blood circulation in the arms and legs can be limited with a device, so that the muscles start to overcompensate, tense as if they are being heavily loaded without being stressed. that actually become.

Friedrich has been working with it for the entire Olympic cycle leading up to the Beijing Games. “By doing a simple knee bend while Franz is hanging from the machine, we can make his muscles feel like they’re carrying 200 pounds,” says Leopold. “For example, we don’t have to look for a weight room in the Olympic village. Francesco can just train in his room.”

The technology has now been developed to such an extent that a recovery program can be introduced for after a long flight. Friedrich also hangs from the machine when his back hurts, a common injury among bobsleighers because of the great pressure on the back muscles during the explosive start. Leopold: “Franz reacts so well to it that we have seen in tests that, even now that he is over 30, he can keep his fast muscle tissue on the arrow with kaatsu. He can now last at least two years longer at top level than we previously thought.”

Leopold has only seen the kaatsu machine in Germany with the football players of RB Leipzig. He has not yet seen bobsleigh teams work with it. There is therefore a hefty price tag: 4,000 euros per device. Leopold bought one for each member of the German bobsleigh team.

Friedrich and his team knew they would only be able to see the Olympic bobsleigh track at the test event last October, and then again at the Games. In order to get a feeling of the steepness already in the summer, of the transition from the straights to the bends, from where to brake and turn in, the car brand BMW, one of the main sponsors of Bobteam Friedrich, built an Olympic simulator. bob track. As with the simulator in Formula 1, a sled was recreated that actually moves with the bends. The steering wheel, two rings in the front of the bob, starts to vibrate as the speed increases.

It is only intended as a first introduction to the job, says coach Gerd Leopold. “It is made very big abroad, but that is not quite right. Our women especially benefited from it. They are less experienced than Francesco. You shouldn’t think it will make you a better pilot.” But it can indeed mean that small difference between gold and silver.

The only time Friedrich was defeated this year was at the European Championships in Sankt-Moritz. He didn’t think it was a problem himself

Luxury of engineers

When Gerd Leopold collaborated with the Jamaican and later the Dutch bobsleigh team at the beginning of this century, the material for the bob usually had to come from Latvia. What Germany made was of better quality, says Leopold, but it took a long time before the items were delivered. In addition, the bobbers had no direct influence on it. They had to make do with how a steering wheel, a brake and an iron came from the factory.

Francesco Friedrich has the luxury of having engineers at the Institut für Forschung und Entwicklung von Sportgeräten develop materials especially for him. From the chassis of the bob to the stiffness of the carbon in the cockpit – if Friedrich feels that with a small adjustment he can hang just a little higher in a cockpit bend, then they get to work on that in Berlin. He is the only one of the German bobsleighers to have enforced that privilege.

In the run-up to Beijing, he made another essential change to his bob. What exactly remains a secret. In fact, he is virtually undefeated with it.

The only time Friedrich was beaten this year was at the European Championships in Sankt-Moritz, Switzerland, during the dress rehearsal for the Games. He didn’t think that was a problem himself. There was something more important than his own ego.

It was the last competition of Alexander Rödiger, who retired after 17 years of bobsleigh. Friedrich knew it would be difficult to win the race with Rödiger in the sled, but gave him a dignified goodbye. He saw it as a challenge to try again. The German bob came in second, just behind the Latvians.

Afterwards, Friedrich received messages from coaches and athletes from other countries. They thanked him for his team spirit, his modesty. Even his opponents know, there is only one the greatest. And that’s Franz.