After his “defeat” in the two-man bobsleigh, record champion Francesco Friedrich is back on the road to success in the four-man bobsleigh. The Saxon won the world championship title on Sunday (February 5th, 2023).
Series winner Francesco Friedrich has struck again! After four runs, the Saxon was the fastest in the decider in the four-man bobsleigh at the World Championships in St. Moritz. Briton Brad Hall and Emils Cipulis from Latvia shared silver.
On the throne with a track record
Finally, another track record! The best bobsledder of all time showed with a dream run who is the boss in the premier class and ultimately a whopping 0.69 seconds ahead.
Friedrich, who was slowed down by a muscle tear in the last few weeks, laid the foundation for victory at the start. In all four runs, he and his crew, Thorsten Margis, Candy Bauer and Alexander Schüller, were faster than any other sled. At half time, the Saxon led by two tenths of a second and actually wanted to set the course for gold in the third run. But that went wrong. The mode wants it so that the leader plays the locomotive in the third round and so Friedrich had to be the first to race through the ice channel. There was a lack of speed and the ideal line, because Hall made a dream run into the track, the lead melted to a tiny 0.08 seconds. “That’s when we went nuts,” Margis later admitted in the first.
Hall blunders – Friedrich like from another planet
The finale seemed to be a thriller, but Hall showed nerves and shot a big buck. So it was clear that a “normal” trip would be enough for Friedrich. But the dominator drove like an alien and conjured up the sled flawlessly through the 1700 meter long ice track. The celebration of his twelfth World Cup victory was huge. “It’s something very special. The track is different in every run,” said Friedrich, who was “glad it worked out.”
Lochner missed the podium by a hair’s breadth
The newly crowned two-man bobsleigh champion Johannes Lochner finished fourth in the premier class. Lochner lost his place on the podium in the second run after having to exchange one of his brake blocks shortly before the first run. After a few mistakes, he dropped from third to fourth place. The 32-year-old now had to hope for mistakes from the competition, but they didn’t do him any favors. In addition, Lochner remained true to the bad luck with injuries – and so another pusher failed. Lochner steered in a completely new line-up and missed the medal by 0.74 seconds.
Hafer loses place and is only sixth
The third German bobsleigh, driven by Christoph Hafer, messed up the first run and was already hopelessly behind. After an interim race to catch up, the 30-year-old, together with his brake drivers Michael Salzer, Matthias Sommer and Tobias Schneider, moved up to fifth place, but he had to give up this place in the final round. Hafer took a gang and had to let the Swiss crew around pilot Michael Vogt pass them.
Semmler finishes first World Championship in eighth place
Junior world champion Nico Semmler, who celebrated his 26th birthday on Saturday, finished eighth in the top ten at his world championship debut. After four solid but not flawless runs, the driver from Saxony-Anhalt could be satisfied and showed that he can be reckoned with in the future.