From Winterberg, GER
(January 8, 2022) – Francesco Friedrich won gold again in Winterberg, and with it set yet another IBSF World Cup record.
Friedrich and Alexander Schüller broke the track record in the first heat and tied it in the second heat on their way to a .33 second victory over teammates Johannes Lochner and Florian Bauer. With the victory, Friedrich won his 43rd World Cup gold medal and his 100th World Cup medal overall split between two-man, four-man, and the team competition. His gold was also his tenth gold medal in Winterberg between two-man and four-man bobsled.
“Johannes had the top speed at the bottom in the first heat, so I knew we needed to clean up our second run, ” Friedrich said of his race. “We pushed really well on the second run and got the speed we needed.”
Lochner’s silver medal was his 16th in two-man competition.
Justin Kripps and brakeman Cam Stones had two sub-5.20 pushes on their way to a bronze medal, Kripps’s 11th of his career. The bronze also extends his streak of top six finishes to 14 in two-man bobsled.
Kripps was well ahead of Russia’s Rostislav Gaitiukevich, who moved up from fifth in his first race to finish fourth. The Russian leapfrogged Christoph Hafer, who helped put all three German sleds in the top five with a fifth place effort.
Brad Hall finished sixth in the lone British sled in the field. Lamin Deen was set to start the race but sled trouble kept him out of the race.
Christopher Spring helped put both Canadian sleds in the top ten with a tenth place effort. Spring entered the second heat in a tie for 12th with Oskars Kibermanis but moved up with a strong second run.
Hunter Church led the way for the United States with a 13th effort. Teammate Frank Del Duca made his World Cup debut as a pilot in Winterber and put down two clean runs for a 15th place finish.
With one race left in the World Cup season, Francesco Friedrich has a 149 point lead over Rostislav Gaitukevich. The German just needs to finish ninth or better to clinch the title in St. Moritz.
Gaitukevich, Kripps, Lochner, and Hall round out the top five.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Friedrich / Schüller | GER | 12 | 5.11 | 5.10 | 54.89 | 54.89 | 1:49.78 |
| 2 | Lochner / F. Bauer | GER | 10 | 5.15 | 5.16 | 54.94 | 55.17 | 1:50.11 |
| 3 | Kripps / Stones | CAN | 4 | 5.18 | 5.19 | 55.20 | 55.43 | 1:50.63 |
| 4 | Gaitiukevich / Efimov | RUS | 11 | 5.17 | 5.13 | 55.40 | 55.47 | 1:50.87 |
| 5 | Hafer / Sommer | GER | 8 | 5.25 | 5.27 | 55.38 | 55.58 | 1:50.96 |
| 6 | Hall / Gleeson | GBR | 7 | 5.17 | 5.20 | 55.45 | 55.61 | 1:51.06 |
| 7 | Won / Kim | KOR | 18 | 5.25 | 5.26 | 55.59 | 55.50 | 1:51.09 |
| 8 | Friedli / Haas | SUI | 9 | 5.21 | 5.22 | 55.54 | 55.59 | 1:51.13 |
| 9 | Vogt / Michel | SUI | 13 | 5.21 | 5.22 | 55.50 | 55.65 | 1:51.15 |
| 10 | Spring / Dearborn | CAN | 17 | 5.25 | 5.24 | 55.64 | 55.60 | 1:51.24 |
| 11 | Kibermanis / Springis | LAT | 14 | 5.19 | 5.18 | 55.64 | 55.62 | 1:51.26 |
| 12 | Heinrich / Lefebvre | FRA | 5 | 5.29 | 5.25 | 55.62 | 55.71 | 1:51.33 |
| 13 | Church / Volker | USA | 2 | 5.23 | 5.26 | 55.63 | 55.75 | 1:51.38 |
| 14 | Sun / Q. Wu | CHN | 20 | 5.24 | 5.25 | 55.69 | 55.79 | 1:51.48 |
| 15 | Del Duca / Abdul-Saboor | USA | 15 | 5.24 | 5.25 | 55.85 | 55.80 | 1:51.65 |
| 16 | Andrianov / Pushkarev | RUS | 21 | 5.27 | 5.30 | 56.00 | 55.68 | 1:51.68 |
| 17 | Dvorak / Lecjaks | CZE | 3 | 5.41 | 5.42 | 55.93 | 55.96 | 1:51.89 |
| 18 | Li / Z. Wu | CHN | 19 | 5.25 | 5.27 | 55.95 | 56.00 | 1:51.95 |
| 19 | de Bruin / Franjic | NED | 23 | 5.26 | 5.33 | 56.25 | 55.87 | 1:52.12 |
| 20 | Suk / Jang | KOR | 1 | 5.44 | 5.41 | 56.37 | 56.05 | 1:52.42 |
| 21 | Tentea / Pacioianu | ROU | 16 | 5.58 | 56.46 | |||
| 22 | Silic / Nikpalj | CRO | 22 | 5.46 | 56.87 | |||
| DNS | Maier / Sammer | AUT | 6 | DNS | ||||
| DNS | Deen / Blanchet | GBR | 24 | DNS |
