Big mishap
Scenes like in the movie: Bob pilot loses his entire team
Updated on 01/13/2026 – 05:04 amReading time: 2 minutes
Spectacular scenes in the four-man bobsleigh in St. Moritz: three of the four Americans fall at the start. The US pilot reaches the finish line alone. Top star Francesco Friedrich also had a mishap.
The surprise victory of the new four-man European bobsleigh champion Adam Ammour was somewhat lost in the whirlwind of St. Moritz. Everyone just talked about US pilot Kristopher Horn’s huge mishap. Such scenes had previously only been seen in the Disney cult film “Cool Runnings”. During the four-man bobsleigh World Cup race on the legendary natural ice rink, all three of Horn’s crew members fell while pushing.
All three pushers slipped and couldn’t get into the sled. First, Carsten Vissering lost his balance, slipped and hit Hunter Powell. Both crashed into the edge of the ice channel. The third pusher and brakeman, Caleb Furnell, held on to the bob for a few meters, but then had to let go of the vehicle because the bob had now picked up too much speed.
Sliding and sliding, the Americans could only watch as pilot Kristopher Horn steered the 210-kilogram sled alone toward the finish. Due to the lack of weight, he was literally thrown down the 1,722 meter long slope in the Swiss Engadine.
After the bumpy ride, pilot Horn quickly slid from the steering cables three positions backwards to the brakeman’s position and brought his large sled to a stop. He spontaneously received applause from the other bobsledders and the fans along the track. According to the regulations, the team was disqualified because all four passengers had to finish.
Ammour unexpectedly took the victory. “My first World Cup victory in the foursome, we can’t believe it. Greetings home to my mom,” said Ammour. Together with his brother Issam Ammour, Joshua Taschen and Alexander Schaller, thanks to his best running time, he overtook Johannes Lochner, who was in the lead after the first round, with a lead of seven hundredths of a second. After his victory in the two-man bobsleigh, the Berchtesgadener missed the hoped-for first European Championship double.
In the “curious race,” according to head national coach Rene Spies, everyone was excited for Francesco Friedrich. Despite a best starting time of 4.98 seconds, the four-time Olympic champion crashed his right push bar into the ice barrier when getting in, which prevented him from folding. Pusher Felix Straub’s beating didn’t help either.
So we went into the steep curve at full speed with an enormous risk of falling. The bracket only folded in the lower area. But valuable time was lost in the ice channel. The record world champion only came 14th in the first run. With the third-best running time, he later improved to sixth place overall.
“I ran too far, so the boys couldn’t get in quickly enough. The push bar touched down. That’s why we lose time. It happened, relatively rarely, but it’s a part of it,” said Friedrich.