From Igls, AUT
(November 29, 2025) – For the second time in as many weeks the IBSF World Cup bobsled tour took to what is effectively a new track. And for the second time in as many weeks it was Johannes Lochner leading a German sweep of the two-man podium.
Lochner and Georg Fleischhauer were the sixth team off the top at the newly reconfigured Igls track, and the duo slid to the lead with a 52.64 then track record downtime that would only see Francesco Friedrich and Alexander Schaller get within a few hundredths of.
With the two German legends well ahead of anyone else, the second heat was effectively a race-off between Friedirch and Lochner.
Friedrich was the first of the two off, and a 5.05 start was .03 quicker than he and Schaller’s first effort. The drive by Friedrich was to that moment the quickest ever on the new track, with a 52.46 putting Friedrich well ahead of anyone else.
Lochner was the final pilot off. He and Fleischhauer matched Friedrich and Schaller’s start, making it a true drive-off between Lochner and Friedrich. Lochner stayed ahead throughout his run, but just barely. His second drive was enough to break Friedrich’s minutes0-old track record by just .02 to win gold by a combined .05.
The win for Lochner was his 22nd in World Cup two-man competition, while Friedrich scored his 76th medal in 109 races in the discipline. The duo have combined for the last 15 World Cup two-man golds in Austria.
Well back behind the duo was a good race for bronze. That race was eventually won by Adam Ammour and Tim Becker to complete the German sweep of the podium, with the duo setting the start record in the second heat, .01 quicker than either Friedrich or Lochner.
Tied for fourth were the teams of jKorea’s Jinsu Kim and Hyeonggeun Kim and USA’s Frank Del Duca and Boone Niederhofer. The Americans held the spot coming into the heat, but another impressive drive by Kim tied the two teams, both .29 behind Ammour.
Del Duca’s fourth place finish matched his previous two two-man finishes on the track in Igls, while Kim’s finish was a career-best in Austria.
France’s Romain Heinrich, one season back from retirement, rounded out the top six with a pair of quicks starts with the help of Dorian Hauterville and clean runs for their best ever finish on the Austrian track.
One spot out of the top six was the American team of Kris Horn and Carsten Vissering, who moved up from eighth in the first heat to finish seventh, .11 out of a top six finish in what was Horn’s first look at the track as a pilot. Geoff Gadbois and Ryan Rager finished 20th in the third American sled.
It was a tough day at the track for the Canadian two-man program. Taylor Austin and Mike Evelyn O’Higgins slid to 27th, one spot ahead of Pat Norton and Luka Stoikos in 28th.
Great Britain’s Brad Hall and Alex Cartagena had a pair of clean runs that didn’t have the speed that they’d hoped on their way to a 17th place finish.
Brothers Nathan and Matthias Lagrange made their, and Argentina’s, debut in the World Cup finishing 33rd.
Two races into the seven race World Cup season and Lochner, Friedrich, and Ammour have the top three spots with two podium sweeps to start the year. South Korea’s Kim sits fourth, with Del Duca fifth and Heinrich sixth.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Lochner / Fleischhauer | GER | 6 | 5.08 | 5.05 | 52.64 | 52.44 | 1:45.08 |
| 2 | Friedrich / Schaller | GER | 12 | 5.08 | 5.05 | 52.67 | 52.46 | 1:45.13 |
| 3 | Ammour / Becker | GER | 7 | 5.09 | 5.04 | 53.07 | 52.82 | 1:45.89 |
| 4 | Kim / Kim | KOR | 9 | 5.09 | 5.10 | 53.16 | 53.02 | 1:46.18 |
| 4 | Del Duca / Niederhofer | USA | 10 | 5.20 | 5.16 | 53.09 | 53.09 | 1:46.18 |
| 6 | Heinrcih / Hauterville | FRA | 15 | 5.19 | 5.16 | 53.21 | 53.20 | 1:46.41 |
| 7 | Horn / Vissering | USA | 14 | 5.11 | 5.09 | 53.30 | 53.22 | 1:46.52 |
| 8 | Kalenda / Miknis | LAT | 16 | 5.17 | 5.12 | 53.39 | 53.14 | 1:46.53 |
| 9 | Treichl / Sammer | AUT | 13 | 5.16 | 5.15 | 53.38 | 53.19 | 1:46.57 |
| 10 | Mandlbauer / Bertschler | AUT | 1 | 5.17 | 5.19 | 53.27 | 53.37 | 1:46.64 |
| 11 | Sun / Shi | CHN | 17 | 5.13 | 5.15 | 53.36 | 53.37 | 1:46.73 |
| 12 | Vogt / Ndiaye | SUI | 8 | 5.33 | 5.26 | 53.55 | 53.23 | 1:46.78 |
| 13 | Li / Zhen | CHN | 22 | 5.17 | 5.16 | 53.45 | 53.37 | 1:46.82 |
| 13 | Tentea / Dinescu | ROU | 18 | 5.23 | 5.23 | 53.41 | 53.41 | 1:46.82 |
| 15 | Wesselink / Franjic | NED | 20 | 5.14 | 5.16 | 53.43 | 53.41 | 1:46.84 |
| 16 | Baumgartner / Mircea | ITA | 11 | 5.23 | 5.21 | 53.48 | 53.37 | 1:46.85 |
| 17 | Hall / Cartagena | GBR | 5 | 5.25 | 5.31 | 53.40 | 53.49 | 1:46.89 |
| 18 | Kranz / Kesseler | LIE | 23 | 5.33 | 5.35 | 53.51 | 53.53 | 1:47.04 |
| 19 | Follador / Schläpfer | SUI | 4 | 5.34 | 5.33 | 53.62 | 53.43 | 1:47.05 |
| 20 | Gadbois / Rager | USA | 2 | 5.30 | 5.38 | 53.60 | 53.61 | 1:47.21 |
| 21 | Grantins / L. Kaufmanis | LAT | 25 | 5.21 | 53.63 | |||
| 22 | Prochazka / Petrikovic | CZE | 24 | 5.18 | 53.64 | |||
| 23 | Behounek / Rapp | CZE | 26 | 5.24 | 53.68 | |||
| 23 | Verginer / Lambrughi | ITA | 28 | 5.13 | 53.68 | |||
| 25 | Turea / Dinca | ROU | 3 | 5.33 | 53.70 | |||
| 26 | Rohner / Güntert | SUI | 21 | 5.24 | 53.76 | |||
| 27 | Austin / Evelyn O’Higgins | CAN | 19 | 5.31 | 53.79 | |||
| 28 | Norton / Stoikos | CAN | 27 | 5.26 | 53.84 | |||
| 28 | Chi / Ding | CHN | 32 | 5.16 | 53.84 | |||
| 30 | Variola / Batti | ITA | 29 | 5.38 | 53.92 | |||
| 31 | Zakrzewski / Sosna | POL | 30 | 5.36 | 54.50 | |||
| 32 | Ribeiro / Larrinaga | POR | 31 | 5.54 | 54.82 | |||
| 33 | Lagrange / Lagrange | ARG | 33 | 5.55 | 54.98 |