From La Plagne, FRA
Jan. 11, 2020 – Francesco Friedrich won the first 2-man World Cup race of 2020 and his second of the season, cruising to victory in La Plagne.
The German pilot carried a .26 advantage over Great Britain’s Brad Hall going into the second heat of the race, with Switzerland’s Michael Vogt and Latvia’s Oskars Kibermanis all in contention for medals behind him.
On the second run Kibermanis flexed his muscle, setting the fast run of the heat to jump up from fourth to second, but Friedrich’s first heat advantage was too much. When the dust had cleared it was Friedrich taking his second gold medal of the season, .26 ahead of Kibermanis, who won his first medal of the season with his silver.
Vogt edged out Hall for bronze, while Hall scored a World Cup career-best fourth place finish.
Richard Oelsner took Johannes Lochner’s 2-man spot in France and finished fifth, while Dominik Dvorak finished sixth, tying a career third-best finish.
Justin Kripps finished tied for tenth with Latvia’s Ralf Berzins, while American Hunter Church finished just .07 behind them in 12th in his first ever trip to La Plagne.
Great Britain’s Lamin Deen had trouble at the start of his first heat and never really recovered, finishing 20th.
France’s Romain Heinrich finished ninth on his home track after entering the second heat tied with Kripps and Church.
Friedrich now has a commanding lead in the IBSF World Cup 2-man points, 66 points ahead of Kibermanis. Kripps is third, 50 behind Kibermanis, while Vogt is fourth, eight points ahead of Church in 5th.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Friedrich / Schüller | GER | 8 | 5.88 | 5.90 | 59.00 | 59.52 | 1:58.52 |
| 2 | Kibermanis / Miknis | LAT | 13 | 5.86 | 5.87 | 59.31 | 59.47 | 1:58.78 |
| 3 | Vogt / Michel | SUI | 10 | 6.04 | 6.06 | 59.29 | 59.57 | 1:58.86 |
| 4 | Hall / Cackett | GBR | 2 | 5.98 | 5.98 | 59.26 | 59.78 | 1:59.04 |
| 5 | Oelsner / Schneider | GER | 12 | 5.97 | 5.99 | 59.47 | 59.62 | 1:59.09 |
| 6 | Dvroak / Nosek | CZE | 3 | 5.93 | 5.90 | 59.43 | 59.70 | 1:59.13 |
| 7 | Walther / Krenz | GER | 21 | 6.06 | 6.04 | 59.63 | 59.61 | 1:59.24 |
| 8 | Rinaldi / Vain | MON | 6 | 6.00 | 6.00 | 59.48 | 59.82 | 1:59.30 |
| 9 | Heinrich / Hauterville | FRA | 11 | 6.01 | 6.03 | 59.66 | 59.77 | 1:59.43 |
| 10 | Kripps / Stones | CAN | 5 | 6.01 | 6.02 | 59.66 | 59.88 | 1:59.54 |
| 10 | Berzins / Springis | LAT | 1 | 6.00 | 5.98 | 59.57 | 59.97 | 1:59.54 |
| 12 | Church / Horn | USA | 4 | 6.12 | 6.09 | 59.66 | 59.95 | 1:59.61 |
| 13 | Won / Seo | KOR | 9 | 6.06 | 6.07 | 59.78 | 59.90 | 1:59.68 |
| 14 | Stulnev / Malykh | RUS | 14 | 6.08 | 6.08 | 59.85 | 60.01 | 1:59.86 |
| 15 | Suk / Jang | KOR | 7 | 6.17 | 6.14 | 59.90 | 59.97 | 1:59.87 |
| 16 | de Bruin / Veenker | NED | 15 | 6.09 | 6.15 | 60.04 | 60.13 | 2:00.17 |
| 17 | Follador / Schläpfer | SUI | 16 | 6.15 | 6.14 | 60.21 | 60.09 | 2:00.30 |
| 18 | Baumgartner / Verginer | ITA | 17 | 6.21 | 6.24 | 60.13 | 60.23 | 2:00.36 |
| 19 | Shinohara / Kaneko | JPN | 20 | 6.15 | 6.12 | 60.40 | 60.17 | 2:00.57 |
| 20 | Deen / Gilling | GBR | 18 | 6.24 | 6.33 | 60.61 | 60.41 | 2:01.02 |
| 21 | Popov / Gryaznov | RUS | 19 | 6.13 | 60.86 | |||
| 22 | Silic / Krajisnik | CRO | 22 | 6.41 | 61.42 |
