22-year-old Adam Ammour celebrates the greatest success of his young career and leads the way in Sigulda, Latvia. He also dupes a long-time winner.
Junior world champion Adam Ammour continued his dream days in Latvia and was crowned European champion in the two-man bobsleigh. The 22-year-old Oberhofer also secured the European Championship title one day after his first victory in the World Cup in Sigulda on Sunday, once again duping long-time winner Johannes Lochner (Stuttgart/+0.07 seconds), who won bronze. Silver went to the Swiss Michael Vogt (+0.06).
Olympic champion Francesco Friedrich (Oberbärenburg/+0.28) came away completely empty-handed on the treacherous track in Sigulda. Starting third in the second run, the 33-year-old was unable to keep up with Ammour.
“A crazy result”
“You couldn’t have imagined the weekend to be better,” said Ammour: “Especially because I was at the start with my brother. That just feels all the better.” National coach Rene Spies described Ammour’s performance this weekend as “unbelievable. We know that he has what it takes, but you have to accept that first. Really a crazy result.”
Ammour was fourth after the first run, and together with his brother Issam Ammour as pusher, he put on a fabulous run in the second run and improved the track record to 48.83 seconds. Defending champion Lochner slipped from first to third place after a mistake in the lower third, enabling Ammour to achieve a sensational triumph.
Unlike the women’s race, the European Championship race, which Laura Nolte (Winterberg) won, has no significance for the World Cup. There Lochner leads comfortably ahead of Friedrich and Vogt, Ammour is seventh.