Germany II Comes From Behind to Win Team Gold

From Whistler, CAN

(Mar. 3, 2019) – Of the two German squads that expected to have a shot a gold, the team with the women’s bobsled world champion and 2-man bronze medalist seemed like a good bet. Germany did take gold, but it was the second German team excelling when it counted.

The first heat saw Russia take the lead  with Nikitia Tregubov’s smooth run. Dave Greszczyszyn put Canada I into second place, with Germany I sitting in third on Axel Jungk’s run.

The 50/50 curve led to a scramble in the second heat, with Alysia Rissling, Mariama Jamanka, and Kori Hol all going over there. Nadezhda Sergeeva also crashed, but her’s was out of Curve 7. Those crashes mixed up the field, with Canada I and USA II moving to the top of the leader board after that second heat. Germany I moved all the way to seventh and Russia I to ninth.

In the third run, Tina Hermann blew away the competition with the only run under 54 seconds, unfortunately her team had crashed in the previous heat. For the contenders, Savannah Graybill had the third quickest run of the race to help move the United States into the lead by .11 over Canada with her USA II team.

Johannes Lochner threw down the best 2-man bobsled run of the day to put pressure on both Canada I’s Nick Poloniato and USA II’s Geoff Gadbois. Neither Poloniato nor Gadbois could keep up with the frantic pace that Lochner put down, and when everything was tallied up Germany II had taken gold.

Canada I finished second, with USA II finishing third. USA I finished just out of the medals in fourth, with the two IBSF teams finishing fifth and sixth.

Results: