From Altenberg, GER
Feb. 13, 2021 – In the least surprising thing to happen in Altenberg, Francesco Friedrich is the leader in the 2021 World Championships after two heats in four-man competition.
Friedrich set the quick time in both heats on his way to a .38 second advantage over the field and continued his season-long streak of not being beaten in any heat in four-man bobsled competition during the 2020/2021 season. If he can hold off the field, he will win his fourth straight four-man World Championship and fifth straight four-heat race (2018 Olympics).
Behind Friedrich, Austria’s Benjamin Maier put down a strong first run to leave himself only .08 behind the German champion. On his second run Maier wasn’t quite as consistent but had enough speed in his sled to finish the heat in second place, .33 ahead of anyone else. He is in search of his first World Championship four-man medal.
Johannes Lochner struggled to be his usually consistent self in the four-man bobsled, and while he will spend the overnight period in third place, he has two very strong competitors in his mirror.
The second heat was a strong one for Latvia. Oskars Kibermanis had a tough start draw in the first heat with a 23rd starting spot. From there, he made it to sixth in the first heat. In the second heat he put down an even better run to jump up into fourth place. Teammate Oskars Melbardis jumped up into sixth place form eighth in the first heat.
Canada’s Justin Kripps had two very strong runs but made a mistake below Kreisel in both heats to leave him just out of the top four in fifth place. He’s only .05 behind Kibermanis for fourth and just .14 behind Lochner for third.
Olympic silver medalist Yunjong Won was the big mover in the second heat, moving up from a tie for 11th to eighth.
Canada’s Christopher Spring had a strong second run to move up from 14th to 11th, just .10 outside of the top ten.
Great Britain struggled to find consistency in their two runs on Saturday. Brad Hall came into the second heat tied for 11th with Olympic silver medalist Yunjong Won. His second run was suspect, though, and he fell to 14th. Teammate Lamin Deen threw down a clean second run to move up to 15th from a tie for 17th after the first run.
France’s Romain Heinrich pulled out of the race after one heat.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Friedrich / Margis / Bauer / Schüller | GER | 4 | 5.03 | 5.04 | 53.78 | 54.26 | 1:48.04 |
| 2 | Maier / Molovan / Sammer / Huber | AUT | 5 | 5.12 | 5.15 | 53.86 | 54.56 | 1:48.42 |
| 3 | Lochner / Bauer / Weber / Rasp | GER | 7 | 5.15 | 5.17 | 54.22 | 54.53 | 1:48.75 |
| 4 | Kibermanis / Springis / Miknis / Lindenblats | LAT | 23 | 5.13 | 5.13 | 54.45 | 54.41 | 1:48.86 |
| 5 | Kripps / Stones / Sommer / Coakwell | CAN | 6 | 5.19 | 5.19 | 54.33 | 54.56 | 1:48.89 |
| 6 | Melbardis / Nemme /Kaufmanis / Dambis | LAT | 11 | 5.22 | 5.23 | 54.51 | 54.71 | 1:49.22 |
| 7 | Hafer / Korona / Hammers / Wobeto | GER | 9 | 5.25 | 5.27 | 54.42 | 54.85 | 1:49.27 |
| 8 | Won / Kim / Lee / Jung | KOR | 19 | 5.26 | 5.29 | 54.65 | 54.75 | 1:49.40 |
| 9 | Gaitiukevich / Mordasov / Malykh / Samitov | BFR | 8 | 5.17 | 5.17 | 54.46 | 54.95 | 1:49.41 |
| 10 | Vogt / Weber / Michel / Haas | SUI | 20 | 5.29 | 5.29 | 54.62 | 54.82 | 1:49.44 |
| 11 | Spring / Evelyn / Mlakar / Patrician | CAN | 16 | 5.25 | 5.26 | 54.78 | 54.76 | 1:49.54 |
| 12 | Baumgartner / Fantazzini / Ughi / Bilotti | ITA | 15 | 5.31 | 5.30 | 54.76 | 54.80 | 1:49.56 |
| 13 | Stulnev / Zaytsev / Kondratenko / Koshelev | BFR | 10 | 5.26 | 5.27 | 54.88 | 54.77 | 1:49.65 |
| 14 | Hall / Lawrence / Gleeson / Dawes | GBR | 17 | 5.27 | 5.33 | 54.65 | 55.01 | 1:49.66 |
| 15 | Deen / Simons / Fearon / Gilling | GBR | 2 | 5.25 | 5.27 | 54.89 | 54.81 | 1:49.70 |
| 16 | Andrianov / Antukh / Zharovtsev / Travkin | BFR | 22 | 5.20 | 5.21 | 54.96 | 54.75 | 1:49.71 |
| 17 | Tentea / Dobre / Daroczi / Radu | ROU | 18 | 5.32 | 5.33 | 54.80 | 55.00 | 1:49.80 |
| 18 | Treichl / Glück / Mitterer / Glaboniat | AUT | 21 | 5.32 | 5.41 | 55.07 | 54.86 | 1:49.93 |
| 19 | Friedli / Fässer / Schläpfer / Jones | SUI | 1 | 5.21 | 5.24 | 54.57 | 55.77 | 1:50.34 |
| 20 | Dvorak / Suchy / Sindelar / Prochazka | CZE | 12 | 5.24 | 5.26 | 55.11 | 55.27 | 1:50.38 |
| 21 | de Bruin / Dumas / Veenker / Franjic | NED | 14 | 5.32 | 5.32 | 55.19 | 55.37 | 1:50.56 |
| 22 | Suk / Lee / Chae / Kim | KOR | 3 | 5.33 | 5.35 | 54.89 | 55.71 | 1:50.60 |
| 23 | Follador / Mariani / Hufschmid / Giumma | SUI | 24 | 5.38 | 5.40 | 55.26 | 55.48 | 1:50.74 |
| DNS | Heinrich / Hauterville / Alais / Borges Mendonaca | FRA | 13 | 5.27 | 55.18 | DNS |
