After winning the monobob, Olympic champion Laura Nolte also won the two-man bobsleigh competition. In Winterberg, the 24-year-old glided through the ice channel with brakewoman Neele Schuten in top form and left the competition behind without a chance. The podium was completed by the German teammates. In the men’s four, Francesco Friedrich triumphed once again, despite an injury.
In the first run, the Laura Nolte/Neele Schuten duo set the best time of 56.88 seconds. The bobsled with Lisa Buckwitz/Kira Lipperheide (+0.220 sec.) and Kim Kalicki/Leonie Fiebig (+0.250) positioned themselves behind them. Monobob Olympic champion Kaillie Humphries was fourth with brakewoman Kaysha Love.
Nolte has the track under control
In the final, too, bobsleigh pilot Nolte had perfect control of the track with the fastest time. With a total lead of 0.35 seconds over Buckwitz, she deservedly raced to victory. Kalicki defended third place and rounded off the perfect German result.
Despite an injury, Friedrich is back on top in the four-man bobsleigh
Francesco Friedrich showed in the four-man bobsleigh that he is a force to be reckoned with in the ice rink, despite the form fluctuations caused by injury. Three weeks before the World Championships, he had only managed to come in an unusual sixth place when Johannes Lochner won the two-man bobsleigh on Saturday. And then explained: “I injured myself while training at home“. On “Muscle fiber tear in the adductor area“plague the seven-time two-man world champion, said national coach Rene Spies.
In the four-man bob it went again. With his pushers Margis, Bauer and Schüller he confidently celebrated his 71st World Cup victory on Sunday. In 1:49.07 minutes, he relegated Bradley Hall’s British four-man bobsleigh to second place by 0.18 seconds. “Today I didn’t notice anything. We got it under control today, the physios did a good job. We think we’re making a little progress every day.”Friedrich said after the competition about his injury with satisfaction on ZDF.
After a strong race to catch up, Johannes Lochner was third (+ 0.20 seconds), who still made it onto the podium after fifth place in the first round. The race was again disappointing for Christoph Hafer. After second place in the first round, he ended up fourth (+ 0.30 seconds) with only the fifth best time of the second round. Hafer had already dropped from second to fourth in the double on Saturday.