From Winterberg, GER
Jan. 3, 2020 – It took exactly one race out of Lake Placid for Francesco Friedrich to return to gold medal form.
The Olympic gold medalist came into the second heat just behind teammate Nico Walther, but a race-fastest push coupled with a race-fastest run catapulted Friedrich into the top spot, .2 ahead of Walther.
Despite starting 22nd in the 22 sled field, Walther and his team started strong with a 5.09 push time in the first heat and a heat-fastest 55.50 to take the lead on ice that seemed to hold over the course of the entire heat. A bumpy ride on the second heat dropped Walther off the top of the podium and into second.
Latvian Oskars Kibermanis finished with his first World Cup bronze medal in Winterberg, jumping up from fourth by .01 ahead of Johannes Lochner.
Justin Kripps, the World Cup point leader coming into the race, continued his great start to the 2019/2020 season with a fifth place finish to maintain his lead in the 4-man standings. Russian Alexey Stulnev finished sixth.
The United States has sent only one men’s squad to Europe for the second part of the 2019/2020 season. Hunter Church was solid in training during his first trip to Europe and backed that up with an eighth place finish in a tight field.
Brad Hall led the way for Great Britain with a ninth place finish, up from 14th in the first heat. Teammate Lamin Deen finished 13th in the first World Cup race of the season for either British pilot.
In the overall standings, Kripps holds a 17 point lead over Friedrich, while Kibermanis is 32 points out in third. Lochner sits fourth, Stulnev fifth, while Church is sixth.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Friedrich / Bauer / Grothkopp / Margis | GER | 10 | 5.10 | 5.00 | 55.64 | 54.89 | 1:50.53 |
| 2 | Walther / Krenz / Bluhm / Franke | GER | 22 | 5.09 | 5.09 | 55.50 | 55.23 | 1:50.73 |
| 3 | Kibermanis / Kaufmanis / Vilkaste / Miknis | LAT | 8 | 5.12 | 5.13 | 55.82 | 55.11 | 1:50.93 |
| 4 | Lochner / Bauer / Weber / Rasp | GER | 9 | 5.08 | 5.06 | 55.66 | 55.28 | 1:50.94 |
| 5 | Kripps / Coakwell / Sommer / Stones | CAN | 7 | 5.17 | 5.13 | 55.90 | 55.20 | 1:51.10 |
| 6 | Stulnev / Koshelev / Malykh / Samitov | RUS | 4 | 5.15 | 5.12 | 55.96 | 55.33 | 1:51.29 |
| 7 | Dvorak / Suchy / Sindelar / Nosek | CZE | 12 | 5.15 | 5.15 | 56.01 | 55.43 | 1:51.44 |
| 8 | Church / Williamson / Reed / Horn | USA | 6 | 5.14 | 5.13 | 55.97 | 55.48 | 1:51.45 |
| 9 | Hall / Taylor / Dawes / Cackett | GBR | 2 | 5.22 | 5.22 | 56.09 | 55.37 | 1:51.46 |
| 10 | Suk / Kim / Kim / Kang | KOR | 20 | 5.30 | 5.29 | 56.01 | 55.52 | 1:51.53 |
| 11 | Heinrich / Alais / Hauterville / Boutherin | FRA | 15 | 5.22 | 5.19 | 56.16 | 55.41 | 1:51.57 |
| 12 | Gaitiukevich / Zaytsev / Kondratenko / Kazantsev | RUS | 5 | 5.08 | 5.10 | 55.96 | 55.68 | 1:51.64 |
| 13 | Deen / Butterworth / Simons / Letts | GBR | 19 | 5.21 | 5.18 | 55.98 | 55.67 | 1:51.65 |
| 14 | Won / Kim / Lee / Chae | KOR | 13 | 5.23 | 5.20 | 56.08 | 55.63 | 1:51.71 |
| 15 | Rohner / Fässler / Leimgruber / Giumma | SUI | 17 | 5.24 | 5.28 | 56.12 | 55.68 | 1:51.80 |
| 16 | de Bruin / Dumas / Veenker / Franjic | NED | 3 | 5.20 | 5.23 | 56.26 | 55.65 | 1:51.91 |
| 17 | Tentea / Dobre / Daroczi / Radu | ROU | 18 | 5.20 | 5.21 | 56.22 | 55.69 | 1:51.91 |
| 18 | Rinaldi / Riou / Demarthon / Vain | MON | 14 | 5.21 | 5.26 | 56.26 | 55.71 | 1:51.97 |
| 19 | Berzins / Nemme / Springis / Pirogs | LAT | 1 | 5.21 | 5.22 | 56.47 | 55.52 | 1:51.99 |
| 20 | Vogt / Gyger / Bieri / Michel | SUI | 11 | 5.20 | 5.22 | 56.05 | 57.02 | 1:53.07 |
