From Cortina d’Ampezzo, ITA
(November 22, 2025) – Johannes Lochner started the 2025/2026 Olympic season in style, with a dominating performance on the Olympic track in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Lochner and Georg Fleischhauer were strong off the top with a pair of starts that rivaled the quickest of the race. Lochner’s driving was as close to flawless as anyone would see on the new course as he slid to a .34 second victory over teammate Francesco Friedrich.
To their part, Friedrich and Alexander Schüller had a pair of strong starts and Friedrich had otherwise nice looking drives on their way to a silver medal, while teammates Adam Ammour and Alexander Schaller took bronze to complete the German sweep.
The gold medal for Lochner was his 21st victory in two-man action and his 50th World Cup medal all time in the discipline.
Jinsu Kim and Hyeonggeun Kim had a pair of massive starts in the race, but it was the second drive by Jinsu that was the difference for Korea. They entered the heat in 11th place but an outstanding second drive moved them not just into the top ten but all the way to fourth place.
The United States’ Frank Del Duca and Josh Williamson had a pair of big starts plus two quick, if not bumpy, runs on their way to a fifth place finish. They edged out Great Britain’s Brad Hall and Ollie Butterworth, who fell to sixth from fourth in the second heat.
The United States has three sleds on the World Cup tour this season. The team of Kris Horn and Hunter Powell came into the sacond heat in sixth place but a bumpy second run dropped them down the order to 11th. Geoffrey Gadbois and Bryce Cheek finished 28th after a couple of early mistakes early killed their run.
Taylor Austin and Shaq Murray-Lawrence led the way for Canada in 16th. Teammates Pat Norton and Mike Evelin finished in a tie for 25th.
Portugal made its World Cup debut with Rafael Ribeiro and Abdel-Kader Larrinaga. Looking to make Portugal’s second Olympics in bobsled, the duo finished 31st.
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Lochner / Fleischhauer | GER | 9 | 4.82 | 4.83 | 55.50 | 55.65 | 1:51.15 |
| 2 | Friedrich / Schüller | GER | 7 | 4.82 | 4.81 | 55.73 | 55.76 | 1:51.49 |
| 3 | Ammour / Schaller | GER | 12 | 4.80 | 4.81 | 55.89 | 55.86 | 1:51.75 |
| 4 | Kim / Kim | KOR | 11 | 4.82 | 4.84 | 56.30 | 55.90 | 1:52.20 |
| 5 | Del Duca / Williamson | USA | 4 | 4.89 | 4.88 | 56.06 | 56.23 | 1:52.29 |
| 6 | Hall / Butterworth | GBR | 10 | 4.91 | 4.93 | 56.04 | 56.45 | 1:52.49 |
| 7 | Baumgartner / Mircea | ITA | 8 | 4.93 | 4.94 | 56.27 | 56.26 | 1:52.53 |
| 8 | Follador / Vögele | SUI | 5 | 5.01 | 5.03 | 56.21 | 56.35 | 1:52.56 |
| 9 | Vogt / Haas | SUI | 14 | 4.94 | 4.97 | 56.18 | 56.40 | 1:52.58 |
| 10 | Treichel / Stepan | AUT | 19 | 4.88 | 4.90 | 56.21 | 56.38 | 1:52.59 |
| 11 | Horn / Powell | USA | 17 | 4.84 | 4.83 | 56.16 | 56.66 | 1:52.82 |
| 12 | Heinrich / Hauterville | FRA | 31 | 4.91 | 4.94 | 56.46 | 56.46 | 1:52.92 |
| 13 | Kalenda / Bebriss | LAT | 6 | 4.92 | 4.94 | 56.35 | 56.60 | 1:52.95 |
| 14 | Sun / An | CHN | 20 | 4.90 | 4.93 | 56.51 | 56.45 | 1:52.96 |
| 14 | Tentea / Iordache | ROU | 15 | 4.97 | 4.99 | 56.46 | 56.50 | 1:52.96 |
| 16 | Austin / Murray-Lawrence | CAN | 21 | 5.00 | 5.00 | 56.49 | 56.51 | 1:53.00 |
| 17 | Rohner / Annen | SUI | 13 | 4.94 | 4.99 | 56.42 | 56.75 | 1:53.17 |
| 17 | Wesselink / Franjic | NED | 2 | 4.87 | 4.85 | 56.37 | 56.80 | 1:53.17 |
| 19 | Li / Ren | CHN | 16 | 4.93 | 4.95 | 56.63 | 56.69 | 1:53.32 |
| 20 | Kranz / Kesseler | LIE | 3 | 5.02 | 5.04 | 56.75 | 56.75 | 1:53.50 |
| 21 | Turea / Dinca | ROU | 22 | 5.01 | 56.77 | |||
| 22 | Prochazka / Petrikovic | CZE | 26 | 4.92 | 56.78 | |||
| 23 | Grantins / Ungurs | LAT | 27 | 4.91 | 56.80 | |||
| 24 | Behounek / Dobes | CZE | 1 | 5.07 | 56.81 | |||
| 25 | Norton / Evelin | CAN | 23 | 4.97 | 56.86 | |||
| 26 | Verginer / Lambrughi | ITA | 29 | 4.87 | 56.86 | |||
| 27 | Mandlbauer / Bertschler | AUT | 25 | 4.90 | 56.90 | |||
| 28 | Gadbois / Cheek | USA | 18 | 4.97 | 56.93 | |||
| 29 | Variola / Batti | ITA | 24 | 4.96 | 57.19 | |||
| 30 | Zakrzewski / Sosna | POL | 28 | 5.01 | 57.65 | |||
| 31 | Ribeiro / Larrinaga | POR | 32 | 5.22 | 58.62 | |||
| DNF | Chi / Ding | CHN | 30 | 4.88 | DNF |