Friedrich Wins Gold, Clinches 4-man Title in Winterberg

From Winterberg, GER

(January 9, 2022) – Francesco Friedrich stayed perfect in his 2021/2022 IBSF four-man bobsled campaign, cruising to victory in Winterberg.

Friedrich’s team was uncharacteristically put-pushed in the first heat by Brad Hall’s British squad. On his second run his team tied the quick start set by Hunter Church’s American squad.

Those very small issues at the top were the only flaws that could really be found in either of Friedrich’s runs as he set the quick time in both heats on his way to a .42 second victory.

The gold was Friedrich’s 22nd World Cup gold in four-man bobsled and his 101st medal overall in World Cup action.

Friedrich has not lost a four-man bobsled race since February of 2020, when he finished fifth in St. Moritz.

Behind Friedrich, the racing was outstanding, with plenty of shuffling throughout the leaderboard. Great Britain’s Brad Hall entered the second heat in fourth place, behind Canada’s Justin Kripps and Germany’s Johannes Lochner, who were tied for second.

Hall’s team put down a quick second run to move into the lead with the United States’ Hunter Church just behind him. Johannes Lochner went next and while his run was relatively clean, he lacked the speed to contend with either Hall or Church. It was then Kripps’s turn. On the Canadian’s run he hit the wall early, then made another mistake late to fall behind Lochner and move Hall into the silver medal position, with Church taking bronze.

The silver for Hall was his third in four-man bobsled and sixth overall. For Church, his bronze medal was the second of his career. Church’s team of he, Josh Williamson, Kris Horn, and Charlie Volker also tied Friedrich’s team for the quick start of the competition with matching 5.08s.

Lochner finished fourth, .01 behind Church, while Kripps finished fifth. Russia’s Maxim Andrianov finished a season-best sixth, his best finish since Calgary in the 2018/2019 season.

Canada’s Chris Spring put together a pair of clean runs to slide to an eighth place finish. In the two four-man bobsled races in Winterberg in December he failed to score a top ten.

The United States’ Frank Del Duca, making his first ever four-man start as a pilot in Winterberg, moved up from 12th in his first run to finish 11th.

Lamin Deen jumped up from 19th to 17th in his second heat for Great Britain.

With one race to go in the 2021/2022 World Cup season, Friedrich has clinched the World Cup points title, as he carries a 229 point lead to St. Moritz. Justin Kripps sits second, well ahead of Rostislav Gaitiukevich in third. Brad Hall and Johannes Lochner round out the top six.

Results: