From Lake Placid, USA
(Feb. 15, 2019) – Francesco Friedrich had a challenge for the gold medal this week in Lake Placid, but while others faltered the World Cup point leader stood strong to wing old.
Friedrich came into the second heat in Lake Placid tied with teammate Johannes Lochner for the lead, and with another ten sleds within .3 of a second behind him.
On the second run the proverbial seas parted, with contenders Lochner and Codie Bascue both having trouble on their second run to hand Friedrich his seventh straight 2-man win of the 2018/2019 season.
French pilot Romain Heinrich finished a career-best second, just .o2 ahead of Justin Kripps of Canada. Kripps put down the second best run in the second heat to catapult himself onto the podium from seventh.
Nico Walther finished fourth, ahead of Oskars Kibermanis and Chris Spring in his return to the IBSF World Cup after winning the North American Cup.
Canada will head to home ice for the rest of the season on a high note, with Nick Poloniato finishing tied for ninth with Bascue to put all three Canadian sleds in the top 10.
For the Americans it was a tough go of it on home ice. Bascue finished tied for ninth after coming into the second run in contention for a win. Justin Olsen fell from 10th to finish 14th, while Geoff Gadbois finished tied for 17th.
Lamin Deen just missed the second heat in 21st in the lone British sled.
Friedrich holds a commanding point lead on the field with one World Cup race to go. Oskars Kibermanis is the only pilot with a shot at stealing the Crystal Globe from the German, but will need a major problem for Friedrich in Calgary to win.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Friedrich / Margis | GER | 13 | 5.03 | 5.05 | 55.97 | 56.38 | 1:52.35 |
| 2 | Heinrich / Hauterville | FRA | 10 | 5.16 | 5.17 | 56.12 | 56.51 | 1:52.63 |
| 3 | Kripps / Stones | CAN | 11 | 5.08 | 5.08 | 56.17 | 56.48 | 1:52.65 |
| 4 | Walther / Krenz | GER | 9 | 5.19 | 5.17 | 56.11 | 56.57 | 1:52.68 |
| 5 | Kibermanis / Miknis | LAT | 8 | 5.09 | 5.08 | 56.18 | 56.58 | 1:52.76 |
| 6 | Spring / Wright | CAN | 17 | 5.21 | 5.20 | 56.15 | 56.67 | 1:52.82 |
| 7 | Lochner / Rasp | GER | 6 | 5.06 | 5.07 | 55.97 | 57.03 | 1:53.00 |
| 8 | Won / Kim | KOR | 12 | 5.14 | 5.20 | 56.27 | 56.75 | 1:53.02 |
| 9 | Bascue / Abdul Saboor | USA | 2 | 5.07 | 5.11 | 56.04 | 57.02 | 1:53.06 |
| 9 | Poloniato / Coakwell | CAN | 14 | 5.09 | 5.06 | 56.21 | 56.85 | 1:53.06 |
| 11 | de Bruin / Franjic | NED | 18 | 5.23 | 5.23 | 56.29 | 56.84 | 1:53.13 |
| 12 | Vogt / Michel | SUI | 15 | 5.17 | 5.18 | 56.25 | 57.00 | 1:53.25 |
| 13 | Rinaldi / Vain | MON | 16 | 5.16 | 5.21 | 56.33 | 56.93 | 1:53.26 |
| 14 | Olsen / Williamson | USA | 3 | 5.11 | 5.09 | 56.24 | 57.06 | 1:53.30 |
| 15 | Suk / Jang | KOR | 23 | 5.24 | 5.28 | 56.66 | 57.17 | 1:53.83 |
| 16 | Bredikhin / Malykh | RUS | 1 | 5.23 | 5.25 | 56.87 | 57.08 | 1:53.95 |
| 17 | Dvorak / Nosek | CZE | 7 | 5.12 | 5.10 | 56.79 | 57.19 | 1:53.98 |
| 17 | Gadbois / Kinney | USA | 19 | 5.25 | 5.25 | 56.85 | 57.13 | 1:53.98 |
| 19 | Berzins / Springis | LAT | 4 | 5.12 | 5.18 | 56.59 | 57.63 | 1:54.22 |
| 20 | Andrianov / Kondratenko | RUS | 5 | 5.24 | 5.25 | 56.77 | 57.54 | 1:54.31 |
| 21 | Deen / Letts | GBR | 20 | 5.23 | 56.88 | |||
| 22 | Popov / Tarasov | RUS | 21 | 5.22 | 56.90 | |||
| 23 | Rohner / Fässler | GER | 22 | 5.25 | 57.48 |