From Cortina d’Ampezzo, ITA
(February 22, 2026) – Johannes Lochner ended his career on his terms, and on top of the bobsled world. Four years after winning a pair of silver medals behind Francesco Friedrich, Lochner put on a masterclass at Pista Olimpica Eugenio Monti as he cruised to four-man gold in what was the final race of his career.
Lochner entered the second day of sliding with nearly a half of a second lead over Friedrich, with the remainder of the field well off the pace of the Bavarian.
In the third heat, Lochner and his team of Thorsten Margis, Jörn Wenzel and Georg Fleischhauer didn’t contend for the quick start of the race, but instead looked a little more conservative. A smooth drive down by Lochner was slower than his first run of the race but was still the quick run of the heat.
Friedrich’s squad answered with the quick start of the heat, but Friedrich couldn’t quite match Lochner’s drive as he finished the heat .05 off of Lochner’s one-run pace and remained nearly a half of a second back behind.
On his fourth and final run, Friedrich’s squad once again set the heat’s quick start, and Friedrich once again put down a very quick and clean run to solidify his medal, but still needed a miracle to win gold.
That miracle never came. Lochner’s team gave him another consistent start, and while Lochner’s drive may have been his messiest of the race, it was still quicker than anyone else as he took gold by .57 over Friedrich.
The win for Lochner gave him a sweep of the 2026 Olympic Winter Games golds. Crew member Thorsten Margis made the move from Friedrich’s team to Lochner’s, and his gold is his fifth career gold medal, making him the most decorated bobsledder in Olympic history.
Friedrich’s silver medal was the 234th medal across all tours and disciplines of his career.
Behind the two German greats, a third up-and-coming German pilot was trying to hold back the field go give Germany a sweep of the podium.
After putting down the quick run of the second heat, Adam Ammour had slid from fifth into the medals, but had Michael Vogt and Patrick Baumgartner both in his mirror. His third run was fifth quickest, with both of the challengers finding just a bit more speed in their runs to close the gap to the two-man bronze medalist.
After Baumgartner completed his Olympics with a clean run that maybe lacked some speed, Switzerland’s Vogt’s team gave him a huge start and he rewarded them with a downtime that was quicker than anyone other than Lochner to take the lead and put the pressure on Ammour.
Ammour’s team answered off the top as they matched Vogt’s team’s start, which turned the race into a drive-off between Ammour and Vogt. Ammour was a little bit quicker at the top, but his drive just wasn’t as clean as Vogt’s. Two skids late in the run put the German behind and gave Vogt and Switzerland the nation’s first four-man bobsled medal in 20 years, with Ammour fourth and Baumgartner fifth.
Great Britain’s Brad Hall had a tough second heat that set him out of the medals. Two clean runs on Sunday moved them to seventh.
USA’s Kris Horn and Frank Del Duca slid to 11th and 12th, respectively. Horn was in his first Olympic race, while Del Duca’s 12th place finish was his best four-man finish of the season.
For Canada, Taylor Austin entered the second heat in 11th place, but a disastrous run put him back in the field. A pair of good drives in the third and fourth heats moved him to 14th place. Teammate Jay Dearborn slid to 20th in his first Olympics.
In his final Olympic race, Edson Bindilatti finished an Olympic-best 19th, while Jamaica’s Shane Pitter slid to 21st in a tie with Liechtenstein’s Martin Kranz.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Run 1 | Run 2 | Run 3 | Run 4 | Total |
| 1 | Lochner / Margis / Wenzel / Fleischhauer | GER | 1 | 53.91 | 54.70 | 54.25 | 54.71 | 3:17.57 |
| 2 | Friedrich / Sommer / Schüller / Straub | GER | 2 | 54.30 | 54.74 | 54.30 | 54.80 | 3:38.14 |
| 3 | Vogt / Haas / Ndiaye / Aeberhard | SUI | 7 | 54.53 | 54.79 | 54.55 | 54.77 | 3:38.64 |
| 4 | Ammour / Ammour / Tasche / Schaller | GER | 3 | 54.51 | 54.69 | 54.58 | 54.90 | 3:38.68 |
| 5 | Baumgartner / Bilotti / Fantazzini / Mircea | ITA | 6 | 54.55 | 54.84 | 54.57 | 54.93 | 3:38.89 |
| 6 | Follador / Rolli / Annen / Vogele | SUI | 8 | 54.49 | 54.91 | 54.69 | 54.94 | 3:39.03 |
| 7 | Hall / Cacket / Greenwood / Lawrence | GBR | 4 | 54.39 | 55.04 | 54.66 | 55.03 | 3:39.12 |
| 8 | Kim / Kim / Lee / Kim | KOR | 9 | 54.60 | 54.90 | 54.75 | 54.99 | 3:39.24 |
| 9 | Treichl / Sammer / Stepan / Huber | AUT | 5 | 54.80 | 54.90 | 54.70 | 54.90 | 3:39.30 |
| 10 | Kalenda / Kaufmanis / Miknis / Klava | LAT | 13 | 54.64 | 55.23 | 54.85 | 55.00 | 3:39.72 |
| 11 | Horn / Furnell / Powell / Vissering | USA | 11 | 54.60 | 55.01 | 55.22 | 55.11 | 3:39.94 |
| 12 | Del Duca / Niederhofer / Sosoo / Williamson | USA | 27 | 55.03 | 54.99 | 54.97 | 55.07 | 3:40.06 |
| 13 | Wesselink / Franjic / Franjic / Koster | NED | 18 | 55.09 | 55.00 | 55.15 | 55.04 | 3:40.28 |
| 14 | Austin / Bruggeling / Evelyn / Murray-Lawrence | CAN | 10 | 54.72 | 55.42 | 55.11 | 55.04 | 3:40.29 |
| 15 | Rohner / Moser / Hersperger / Geiri | SUI | 15 | 54.99 | 55.16 | 54.92 | 55.26 | 3:40.33 |
| 16 | Sun / Zhang / Shi / An | CHN | 25 | 55.05 | 55.21 | 54.97 | 55.13 | 3:40.36 |
| 17 | Tentea / Pacioianu / Iordache / Dinescu | ROU | 24 | 55.05 | 55.12 | 55.05 | 55.21 | 3:40.43 |
| 18 | Li / Jiang / Ye / Ding | CHN | 22 | 55.07 | 55.36 | 55.22 | 55.22 | 3:40.87 |
| 19 | Bindilatti / de Souza / Souza da Silva / Bacca Goncalves | BRA | 17 | 55.04 | 55.42 | 55.38 | 55.30 | 3:41.14 |
| 20 | Dearborn / Eskrick-Parkinson / Stoikos / Zanette | CAN | 14 | 55.18 | 55.27 | 55.42 | 55.29 | 3:41.16 |
| 21 | Kranz / Buehler / Lenherr / Tschofen | LIE | 16 | 55.08 | 55.38 | 55.56 | 2:46.02 | |
| 21 | Pitter / Harris / Tracey / Fearon | JAM | 19 | 55.28 | 55.29 | 55.45 | 2:46.02 | |
| 23 | Suk / Chae / Chun / Lee | KOR | 20 | 55.51 | 55.22 | 55.72 | 2:46.45 | |
| DNS | Edelman / Chen / Zisman / Katz | ISR | 21 | 55.53 | 55.63 | DNS | ||
| DNF | Mandlbauer / Bertschler / Mitterer / Nichols-Bardi | AUT | 26 | 55.14 | DNF | |||
| DNF | Heinrcih / Hauterville / Blairon / Riou | FRA | 12 | 55.59 | DNF | |||
| DNF | Brown / John / John / Williams | TTO | 23 | 55.72 | DNF |