From Königssee, GER
Dec. 20, 2019 – Oskars Melbardis won his first IBSF gold medal since returning from hiatus due to back injury.
The 2018 2-man Olympic bronze medalist found his rhythm in Königssee, leading both heats with identical 49.62 downtimes on his way to a .11 second win over Germany’s Philipp Zielasko.
The gold for Melbardis came in his ninth bobsled race (2-man and 4-man) since sitting out the 2018/2019 season to get his back healthy.
Zielasko’s silver came in his first IBSF European Cup race. Richard Oelsner, who has not lost a 2-man race on the European Cup season, did not start.
Mihai Tentea of Romania finished third, his fourth podium in five races. Tentea leads the European Cup 2-man points by 35 over Melbardis.
Switzerland finished in positions four through six, with Michael Kuonen finishing fourth, Simon Friedli fifth, and Timo Rohner tying for sixth with Great Britain’s Brad Hall.
The sixth place finish for Hall was his best finish on the European Cup in any discipline since a silver medal in Winterberg in November of 2015.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Melbardis / Dambis | LAT | 10 | 4.95 | 4.93 | 49.62 | 49.62 | 1:39.24 |
| 2 | Zielasko / Schwenzfeier | GER | 31 | 4.86 | 4.88 | 49.65 | 49.70 | 1:39.35 |
| 3 | Tentea / Daroczi | ROU | 7 | 4.97 | 4.97 | 49.68 | 49.77 | 1:39.45 |
| 4 | Kuonen / Tanner | SUI | 4 | 4.92 | 4.88 | 49.75 | 49.72 | 1:39.47 |
| 5 | Friedli / Jones | SUI | 5 | 4.95 | 4.94 | 49.73 | 49.78 | 1:39.51 |
| 6 | Rohner / Fässler | SUI | 9 | 5.00 | 4.96 | 49.85 | 49.83 | 1:39.68 |
| 6 | Hall / cackett | GBR | 27 | 4.90 | 4.89 | 49.95 | 49.73 | 1:39.68 |
| 8 | Illmann / Fleischhauer | GER | 12 | 4.99 | 4.96 | 49.94 | 49.79 | 1:39.73 |
| 9 | Berzins / Springis | LAT | 14 | 4.95 | 4.91 | 49.98 | 49.81 | 1:39.79 |
| 10 | de Bruin / Veenker | NED | 8 | 5.04 | 5.01 | 49.91 | 49.96 | 1:39.87 |
| 11 | Gaitiukevich / Zharovtsev | RUS | 11 | 4.88 | 4.90 | 49.84 | 50.04 | 1:39.88 |
| 12 | Hannighofer / Kornhardt | GER | 13 | 4.96 | 4.96 | 40.02 | 49.89 | 1:39.91 |
| 13 | Buchmüller / Mrowka | GER | 19 | 4.94 | 4.95 | 50.03 | 49.93 | 1:39.96 |
| 14 | Li / Ding | CHN | 6 | 5.01 | 5.01 | 49.97 | 50.03 | 1:40.00 |
| 15 | Popov / travkin | RUS | 20 | 5.02 | 5.02 | 50.24 | 49.93 | 1:40.17 |
| 16 | Cipulis / Kleinbergs | LAT | 24 | 4.97 | 4.98 | 50.25 | 50.12 | 1:40.37 |
| 17 | Baumgartner / Ughi | ITA | 16 | 5.08 | 5.06 | 50.34 | 50.14 | 1:40.48 |
| 18 | Kaufmanis / Bebriss | LAT | 15 | 4.93 | 4.93 | 50.16 | 50.36 | 1:40.52 |
| 19 | Lorenzoni / Mariani | SUI | 29 | 4.97 | 4.98 | 50.29 | 50.27 | 1:40.56 |
| 20 | Sasaki / Shishido | JPN | 1 | 5.06 | 5.05 | 50.32 | 50.34 | 1:40.66 |
| 21 | Jin / Hong | CHN | 17 | 50.05 | 50.36 | |||
| 22 | Sun / Zhen | CHN | 18 | 4.94 | 50.69 | |||
| 23 | Bredikhin / Lylov | RUS | 21 | 5.04 | 50.76 | |||
| 24 | Voloskov / Korotkov | RUS | 30 | 5.11 | 50.83 | |||
| 25 | Geiger / Kaiser | AUT | 3 | 5.20 | 50.92 | |||
| 26 | Dobes / Prochazka | CZE | 25 | 5.01 | 51.08 | |||
| 26 | Radenovic / Novakovic | SRB | 32 | 5.24 | 51.08 | |||
| 28 | Variola / Atochori Essoh | ITA | 23 | 5.03 | 51.09 | |||
| 29 | Baird / Taylor | GBR | 28 | 5.09 | 51.23 | |||
| 30 | Taborsky / Glasnak | SVK | 26 | 5.22 | 51.36 | |||
| 31 | Ohanlon / Williamson | AUS | 2 | 5.46 | 52.47 | |||
| DNF | Shinohara / Kaneko | JPN | 22 | 5.02 | DNF |
