2015 FIBT World Championships – Four-Man Bobsled – Runs 1 & 2

From Winterberg, Germany

Winterberg is known for it’s tight races, and the final race of the 2015 season is living up to that expectation, with an absolute dogfight for the top spot.

World Cup two-man and four-man champion Oskars Melbardis brought sled down to a track record pace in Run 1, taking the Run 1 lead by .03 over Max Arndt and Nico Walther.  Run 2, though, would see Franceso Friedrich make his move, breaking the track record set by Melbardis on his way to a third place finish, behind Melbardis and Arndt. Walther fell back to fourth, while British pilot Lamin Deen continued a fantastic World Championships for him, moving up to fifth after a fourth-fastest run in the heat.

Steven Holcomb will go into the second day of sliding in ninth place after a very tidy second run.  teammates Nick Cunningham and Codie Bascue will enter the second day in 16 and tied for 19th, respectively.

Chris Spring had a slightly disappointing second run, but managed to keep in the top ten in eighth, while teammate Justin Kripps also kept in the top ten in tenth place.  The third Canadian sled, piloted by Kaillie Humphries, finished 28th after a flip late in her second run.

Results:

Pos Names Nation Bib Run 1 Run 2 Total
1 Melbardis/Dreiskens/Vilkaste/Strenga LAT 3 53.80 53.73 1:47.53
2 Arndt/Rödiger/Korona/Hebe GER 1 53.83 53.78 1:47.61
3 Friedrich/Bauer/Grothkopp/Margis GER 4 53.98 53.69 1:47.67
4 Walther/Bredau/Hübenbecker/Poser GER 5 53.83 53.86 1:47.69
5 Deen/Simons/Tasker/Matthews GBR 16 54.10 53.81 1:47.91
6 Peter/van der Zijde/Amrhein/Friedli SUI 6 54.01 53.96 1:47.97
7 Kasjanov/Negodaylo/Huzin/Pushkarev RUS 2 54.03 54.03 1:48.06
8 Spring/Plug/Kopacz/Brown CAN 10 54.06 54.10 1:48.16
9 Holcomb/Olsen/Valdes/Michener USA 11 54.20 54.09 1:48.29
10 Kripps/Randall/Barnett/Coackwell CAN 8 54.14 54.38 1:48.52
11 Zakharov/Neustroev/Antukh/Kondratenko RUS 9 54.30 54.26 1:48.56
12 Vrba/Suchy/Dvorak/Nosek CZE 17 54.32 54.26 1:48.58
13 Kibermanis/Lusis/Zirups/Leiboms LAT 7 54.34 54.28 1:48.62
14 Stulnev/Mokrousov/Selikhov/Soldatenkov RUS 14 54.28 54.39 1:48.67
15 Hafer/Salzer/Rademacher/Trenkler GER 21 54.46 54.30 1:48.76
16 Cunningham/Clark/Harrison/Reed USA 12 54.35 54.41 1:48.76
17 Maier/Laussegger/Sammer/Rangl AUT 13 54.37 54.55 1:48.92
18 Bertazzo/Fontana/Ughi/Costa ITA 15 54.56 54.43 1:48.99
19 Bascue/Wickline/Cremin/Adams USA 18 54.60 54.50 1:49.10
19 Won/Jun/Seo/Kim KOR 22 54.77 54.33 1:49.10
21 Matousek/Sindelar/Stoklaska CZE 26 54.61 54.51 1:49.12
22 Costerg/Heinrich/Ricard/Boutherin FRA 19 54.72 54.45 1:49.17
23 Radjenovic/Djuric/Krajisnik/Bundalo SRB 24 54.96 54.84 1:49.80
24 Grigore/Craciun/Salajan/Moldovan ROU 23 55.06 54.83 1:49.89
25 Gschnitzer/Grande/Caurso/Variola ITA 25 55.09 54.89 1:49.98
26 Wesselink/Balvers/Mensink/Brink NED 28 55.22 55.26 1:50.48
27 Luty/Tylkowski/Wieczorek/Kossakowski POL 27 55.28 55.38 1:50.66
28 Humphries/Dale/Nemet/Kirkpatrick CAN 20 55.01 55.90 1:50.91