From Lillehammer, NOR
(November 30, 2023) – Switzerland’s Timo Rohner held of a quartet of German sleds to win his first career IBSF international gold medal in Europe Cup action.
After one heat Rohner found himself tied with Germany’s Hans Peter Hannighofer, only .01 behind Hannighofer’s teammate Laurin Zern. Behind them, Germany’s Nico Semmler was just .14 back.
On the second run, Germany’s Alexander Czudaj moved to the lead from seventh place and held the spot until Semmler put down a run that was the best of the race to that point. Up next was Hannighofer. He and brakeman Tim Gessenhardt for the second time in the day put down the fastest start of the heat and took the lead from Semmler and brakeman Max Neumann by a quarter of a second.
Rohner and brakeman Mathieu Hersperger were next and took the lead by only .02, despite a push that was .06 slower off the top.
That left Laurin Zern and brakeman Alexander Schaller, the leaders after the first heat. They put down a start that was bested only by Hannighofer and Gessenhardt, and most of the run through appeared to have the win. Late trouble for the duo scrubbed just enough time off to hand the win to the Swiss team by just .02, tied with Hannighofer.
The gold medal for Rohner was his first in IBSF competition. He’d previously won five medals between two-man and four-man bobsled on the Europe Cup tour, not counting Junior European Championships.
Zern and Hannighofer tied for silver, with Semmler and Czudaj rounding out the next four spots in the race.
Great Britain’s John Stanbridge scored his first career bobsled top six in sixth place.
Right behind Stanbridge was teammate Adam Baird, who tied a career-best finish in seventh. Both seventh place finishes have come in Lillehammer.
Joshua Hudson rounded out the British effort in 19th in his first start as a pilot. Hudson had previously been a push athlete for Nick Gleeson.
Axel Brown of Trinidad and Tobago finished 14th, one spot ahead of Lichtenstein’s Martin Kranz, who finished 15th tied with Dutch slider Dave Wesselink.
Portugal’s Raphael Ribeiro finished 26 in the first start for Portugal in recent memory.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Finish |
| 1 | Rohner / Hersperger | SUI | 9 | 5.16 | 5.15 | 51.94 | 51.76 | 1:43.70 |
| 2 | Zern / Schaller | GER | 4 | 5.09 | 5.11 | 51.93 | 51.79 | 1:43.72 |
| 2 | Hannighofer / Gessenhardt | GER | 13 | 5.07 | 5.09 | 51.94 | 51.78 | 1:43.72 |
| 4 | Semmler / Neumann | GER | 10 | 5.17 | 5.18 | 52.07 | 51.90 | 1:43.97 |
| 5 | Czudaj / Vogel | GER | 23 | 5.15 | 5.18 | 52.22 | 51.98 | 1:44.20 |
| 6 | Stanbridge / Hullah | GBR | 21 | 5.23 | 5.23 | 52.18 | 52.05 | 1:44.23 |
| 7 | Baird / Greenwood | GBR | 19 | 5.15 | 5.15 | 52.33 | 52.01 | 1:44.34 |
| 8 | Mandlbauer / Nichols-Bardi | AUT | 15 | 5.14 | 5.14 | 52.34 | 52.11 | 1:44.45 |
| 9 | Tenta / Iordache | ROU | 11 | 5.16 | 5.19 | 52.47 | 52.12 | 1:44.59 |
| 10 | Berginer / Ceresatto | ITA | 2 | 5.10 | 5.11 | 52.21 | 52.43 | 1:44.64 |
| 11 | Kaiser / Zech | AUT | 3 | 5.23 | 5.24 | 52.53 | 52.37 | 1:44.90 |
| 12 | Hanschitz / Seifert | AUT | 30 | 5.22 | 5.28 | 52.60 | 52.42 | 1:45.02 |
| 13 | Nica / Oleinic | ROU | 12 | 5.29 | 5.29 | 52.60 | 52.43 | 1:45.03 |
| 14 | Brown / Williams | TTO | 6 | 5.31 | 5.32 | 52.61 | 52.49 | 1:45.10 |
| 15 | Wesselink / Franjic | NED | 20 | 5.16 | 5.17 | 52.62 | 52.51 | 1:45.13 |
| 15 | Kranz / Bertschler | LIE | 14 | 5.29 | 5.27 | 52.72 | 52.41 | 1:45.13 |
| 17 | Behounek / Wijas | CZE | 7 | 5.11 | 5.12 | 52.65 | 52.49 | 1:45.14 |
| 18 | Boron / Buba | POL | 8 | 5.26 | 5.23 | 52.92 | 52.57 | 1:45.49 |
| 19 | Hudson / Kay | GBR | 26 | 5.19 | 5.22 | 52.91 | 52.61 | 1:45.52 |
| 20 | Sobczyk / Sosna | POL | 18 | 5.22 | 5.25 | 52.90 | 52.69 | 1:45.59 |
| 21 | Turea / Dobre | ROU | 1 | 5.16 | 52.94 | |||
| 22 | Prochazka / Kadlec | CZE | 16 | 5.21 | 53.02 | |||
| 23 | Dienkiewwicz / Boinski | POL | 28 | 5.38 | 53.45 | |||
| 24 | Gazmuri-Olivares / Kongssund | NOR | 22 | 5.46 | 53.56 | |||
| 25 | Dinca / Asurdoaie | ROU | 24 | 5.30 | 53.98 | |||
| 26 | Ribeiro / Larrinaga | POR | 29 | 5.40 | 54.22 | |||
| 27 | Baechler / Alais | FRA | 5 | 5.36 | 54.85 | |||
| 28 | Mirbel / Souza da Silva | BRA | 27 | 5.33 | 54.87 | |||
| 29 | Lagrange / Lagrange | ARG | 25 | 5.52 | 57.23 | |||
| DNS | Ferreira / Jeronimo | BRA | 17 | DNS |
