From Winterberg, GER
(January 4, 2026) – The racing in Winterberg had been close throughout every field all weekend, so it was no surprise that the racing in four-man was tight, but the podium was anything but shocking.
Francesco Friedrich held a .09 second lead over Johannes Lochner, with Great Britain’s Brad Hall trying to hold off a German podium sweep in third, just .12 off of Friedrich’s pace.
The second heat saw Adam Ammour’s team pick up .09 from their first push and Ammour reward them with a monster drive that would be the quickest of the heat. It was enough to not just take the lead from Austria’s Markus Treichl, but hold off Hall, who had put down a solid drive of his own but not enough to overtake the German.
Lochner went next. Like Ammour, his team picked up a bit at the start, and Lochner’s drive was just .01 off of Ammour’s pace to put him into the lead by just .04 with Friedrich to go.
Friedrich was making his 100th World Cup four-man start and was seeking gold medal number 37. His team pushed him off quicker than Lochner, but the reigning world champ found himself nearly even with Lochner early. A clean run below the Kreisel is what it took as Friedrich edged out Lochner by just .02 to win gold for the 37th time in World Cup action and tenth win in Winterberg.
Silver for Lochner was his 46th four-man medal.
Hall finished fourth, .19 out of the medals and just ahead of Treichl in fifth. Switzerland’s Cedric Follador put down a strong pair of runs to finish sixth.
Kris Horn backed up a fourth place finish in two-man bobsled on Saturday with a strong showing in four-man in an eighth place finish. His team had the quick start of the first heat. Teammate Frank Del Duca’s tough four-man season continued as he finished 16th after a second heat that was just a bit bumpy at times.
Taylor Austin had a strong slide for Canada. His team gave him a strong push in both heats on the way to a ninth finish. Pat Norton was part of a tight pack of sliders lingering around 20th and missed a second run by .04, finishing 22nd.
With just two races to go in the 2025/2026 World Cup season, Lochner leads Friedrich by 25 points, with Ammour third. Patrick Baumgartner, Hall, and Treichl round out the top six.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Friedrich / Sommer / Schüller / Laurenz | GER | 9 | 5.07 | 5.06 | 54.47 | 54.60 | 1:49.07 |
| 2 | Lochner / Peschk / Wenzel / Fleischhauer | GER | 7 | 5.10 | 5.09 | 54.56 | 54.53 | 1:49.09 |
| 3 | Ammour / Ammour / Tasche / Schaller | GER | 6 | 5.13 | 5.04 | 54.61 | 54.52 | 1:49.13 |
| 4 | Hall / Greenwood / Lawrence / Cackett | GBR | 8 | 5.11 | 5.13 | 54.59 | 54.73 | 1:49.32 |
| 5 | Treichl / Stepan / Sammer / Sares | AUT | 5 | 5.10 | 5.08 | 54.67 | 54.82 | 1:49.49 |
| 6 | Follador / Vögele / Rolli / Annen | SUI | 4 | 5.20 | 5.19 | 54.70 | 54.83 | 1:49.53 |
| 7 | Baumgartner / Fantazzini / Mircea / Bilotti | ITA | 13 | 5.17 | 5.14 | 54.80 | 54.79 | 1:49.59 |
| 8 | Horn / Vissering / Powell / Furnell | USA | 10 | 5.06 | 5.09 | 54.74 | 54.87 | 1:49.61 |
| 9 | Austin / Evelyn O’Higgins / Bruggeling / Murray-Lawrence | CAN | 15 | 5.12 | 5.16 | 54.81 | 54.83 | 1:49.64 |
| 10 | Kim / Kim / Chae / Lee | KOR | 12 | 5.12 | 5.09 | 54.83 | 54.86 | 1:49.69 |
| 11 | Behounek / Dobes / Rapp / Wijas | CZE | 25 | 5.20 | 5.19 | 54.82 | 55.01 | 1:49.83 |
| 12 | Kalenda / Bebriss / Kaufmanis / Kaufmanis | LAT | 18 | 5.16 | 5.15 | 54.86 | 55.00 | 1:49.86 |
| 12 | Li / Jiang / Ye / Ding | CHN | 23 | 5.16 | 5.18 | 54.83 | 55.03 | 1:49.86 |
| 14 | Wesselink / Huis in ‘t Veld / Franjic / Koster | NED | 17 | 5.16 | 5.16 | 54.96 | 54.94 | 1:49.90 |
| 15 | Vogt / Haas / Ndiaye / Güntert | SUI | 11 | 5.18 | 5.17 | 55.05 | 54.95 | 1:50.00 |
| 16 | Del Duca / Williamson / Niederhofer / Sosoo | USA | 22 | 5.17 | 5.17 | 55.02 | 54.99 | 1:50.01 |
| 17 | Tentea / Dinescu / Pacioianu / Iordache | ROU | 1 | 5.28 | 5.26 | 55.04 | 55.06 | 1:50.10 |
| 18 | Kranz / Lenherr / Kesseler / Tschofen | LIE | 26 | 5.25 | 5.31 | 55.06 | 55.09 | 1:50.15 |
| 19 | Sun / Zhang / Shi / An | CHN | 16 | 5.13 | 5.15 | 55.00 | 55.18 | 1:50.18 |
| 20 | Mandlbauer / Nichols-Bardi / Mitterer / Bertschler | AUT | 24 | 5.16 | 5.21 | 55.07 | 55.20 | 1:50.27 |
| 21 | Rohner / Hersperger / Bieri / Aeberhard | SUI | 20 | 5.23 | 55.08 | |||
| 22 | Norton / Ohrt / Stoikos / Zanette | CAN | 21 | 5.23 | 55.11 | |||
| 23 | Heinrich / Blairon / Riou / Hauterville | FRA | 14 | 5.17 | 55.12 | |||
| 24 | Variola / Verginer / Ragazzi / Lambrughi | ITA | 3 | 5.17 | 55.13 | |||
| 25 | Grantins / Ungurs / Nemme / Klava | LAT | 19 | 5.18 | 55.15 | |||
| 26 | Prochazka / Petrikovic / Jindra / Bures | CZE | 2 | 5.25 | 55.41 | |||
| 27 | Zakrzewski / Sosna / Jakobczyk / Sarnecki | POL | 27 | 5.30 | 56.08 |