From Winterberg, GER
(Dec. 9, 2017) The plan since the beginning of the season for the Swiss bobsled team was to turn the reins over from Beat Hefti to Clemens Bracher to see what the younger pilot can do against the best in the world in Europe on some tracks Bracher knows.
Apparently he can do okay.
Bracher came into the second heat in the hunt for a medal, with only Nick Poloniato and Alexander Kasjanov ahead of him. Bracher put the pressure on the leaders with the fastest run of the heat. Kasjanov failed to answer, dropping to sixth. Poloniato couldn’t find the speed he needed to hold on to the lead, giving the win to the Swiss rookie.
Behind Bracher, German Francesco Friedrich and Canadian Chris Spring raced to a dead heat to tie for silver, with Friedrich moving up from sixth and Spring up from fifth to share second place.
Justin Kripps finished fourth, with Poloniato in fifth capping a great day for the Canadian squad. Kasjanov failed to enhance his performance, finishing sixth.
The American bobsled squad had a tough weekend, with their sleds not arriving until 24 hours before race time. With no runs in the sleds until the first heat, Team USA found themselves a little behind the curve. The missing sleds, coupled with early start draws where the track seemed to get faster as the heat went on led to sub-par finishes for the American men. Nick Cunningham finished 18th, one spot ahead of teammate Codie Bascue. Justin Olsen missed the second run in 22nd.
Much like the Americans, the British men also fell victim to a very early start draw, finishing 24th and 25th.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Bracher / Kuonen | SUI | 19 | 5.18 | 5.18 | 55.87 | 55.77 | 1:51.64 |
| 2 | Friedrich / Margis | GER | 16 | 5.19 | 5.16 | 55.96 | 55.80 | 1:51.76 |
| 2 | Spring / Wright | CAN | 15 | 5.23 | 5.21 | 55.92 | 55.84 | 1:51.76 |
| 4 | Kripps / Kopacz | CAN | 12 | 5.19 | 5.18 | 55.91 | 55.88 | 1:51.79 |
| 5 | Poloniato / Brown | CAN | 17 | 5.16 | 5.19 | 55.71 | 56.09 | 1:51.80 |
| 6 | Kasjanov / Pushkarev | RUS | 18 | 5.28 | 5.27 | 55.83 | 55.98 | 1:51.81 |
| 7 | Maier / Sammer | AUT | 24 | 5.19 | 5.18 | 56.07 | 56.01 | 1:52.08 |
| 8 | Kibermanis / Miknis | LAT | 11 | 5.22 | 5.16 | 56.11 | 56.06 | 1:52.17 |
| 9 | Walther / Kuske | GER | 7 | 5.32 | 5.25 | 56.16 | 56.06 | 1:52.22 |
| 10 | Melbardis / Strenga | LAT | 8 | 5.26 | 5.22 | 56.17 | 56.06 | 1:52.23 |
| 11 | Zalims / Springis | LAT | 26 | 5.22 | 5.21 | 56.14 | 56.16 | 1:52.30 |
| 12 | Stulnev / Malykh | RUS | 22 | 5.33 | 5.36 | 56.18 | 56.25 | 1:52.43 |
| 13 | Dvorak / Nosek | CZE | 20 | 5.20 | 5.20 | 56.26 | 56.21 | 1:52.47 |
| 14 | Peter / Friedli | SUI | 9 | 5.37 | 5.32 | 56.33 | 56.16 | 1:52.49 |
| 15 | Luty / Tylkowski | POL | 21 | 5.25 | 5.28 | 56.18 | 56.33 | 1:52.51 |
| 16 | Lochner / Weber | GER | 10 | 5.19 | 5.17 | 56.37 | 56.23 | 1:52.60 |
| 17 | Andrianov / Mordasov | RUS | 27 | 5.31 | 5.30 | 56.39 | 56.33 | 1:52.72 |
| 18 | Cunningham / Abdul-Saboor | USA | 6 | 5.31 | 5.29 | 56.48 | 56.41 | 1:52.89 |
| 19 | Bascue / Valdes | USA | 14 | 5.26 | 5.28 | 56.41 | 56.57 | 1:52.98 |
| 20 | Vrba / Havlin | CZE | 28 | 5.37 | 5.40 | 56.42 | 56.64 | 1:53.06 |
| 21 | Treichl / Bassey | AUT | 25 | 5.31 | 56.55 | |||
| 22 | Olsen / Weinstock | USA | 13 | 5.26 | 56.56 | |||
| 23 | Heinrich / Pujamr | FRA | 23 | 5.31 | 56.58 | |||
| 24 | Hall / Cackett | GBR | 4 | 5.30 | 56.64 | |||
| 25 | Tasker / Simpson | GBR | 3 | 5.36 | 56.67 | |||
| 26 | de Bruin / van der Zijde | NED | 29 | 5.36 | 56.71 | |||
| 27 | Bertazzo / Variola | ITA | 1 | 5.42 | 56.86 | |||
| 28 | Radenovic / Vujanic | SRB | 30 | 5.49 | 57.94 | |||
| 29 | Grigore / Craciun | ROU | 2 | 5.44 | 57.36 | |||
| 30 | Baumgartner / Verginer | ITA | 5 | 5.52 | 57.39 |
