From Igls, LAT
Jan. 19, 2020 – Francesco Friedrich swept the weekend’s men’s bobsled races, taking gold with ease in the 4-man race a day after destroying the field in 2-man.
Friedrich had the two fastest starts and the two quickest drives of the race on his way to a .33 second victory over teammate Johannes Lochner.
The gold was the fifth straight medal for Friedrich after finishing fourth to open the season in Lake Placid, while the silver for Lochner was his fourth straight medal.
Hunter Church continued to shine for the United States, winning his first career IBSF World Cup medal in third. The American’s team had the second fastest start of the day and the second fastest time in the second heat on their way to a bronze medal in Church’s first trip to Igls.
In his first four 4-man races in Europe Church has continually improved, with finishes of eighth, eighth, sixth, and now third.
Church broke up a German sweep of the podium, with Nico Walther finishing just .07 behind the American in fourth. Canadian Justin Kripps continued his strong season with a fifth place finish, just ahead of Russian Alexey Stulnev in sixth.
Friedrich’s win put him 15 points further ahead of Lochner in the 4-man points with Friedrich now 38 points up on his teammate. Kripps sits third, 99 points out.
Lamin Deen moved up into the top ten on his second run, up from eleventh. That tenth place finish tied his best race finish since Altenberg in the 2017/2018 season. Behind him, Brad Hall finished 12th after scoring a silver medal in Saturday’s 2-man competition.
Many pilots were injured prior to today’s race, with Oskars Kibermanis, Benjamin Maier, and Markus Treichl all sitting-in at the start. Kibermanis led that group with an 11th place finish. Maier finished two spots back in 13th, while Treichl missed the second run by .01, finishing 21st.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Friedrich / Bauer / Grothkopp / Schüller | GER | 4 | 5.03 | 4.99 | 50.92 | 50.96 | 1:41.88 |
| 2 | Lochner / Bauer / Weber / Rasp | GER | 7 | 5.07 | 5.12 | 50.98 | 51.23 | 1:42.21 |
| 3 | Church / Williamson / Reed / Horn | USA | 6 | 5.11 | 5.10 | 51.11 | 51.19 | 1:42.30 |
| 4 | Walther / Krenz / Schwenzfeier / Schneider | GER | 12 | 5.16 | 5.16 | 51.13 | 51.24 | 1:42.37 |
| 5 | Kripps / Sommer / Coakwell / Stones | CAN | 13 | 5.11 | 5.13 | 51.26 | 51.31 | 1:42.57 |
| 6 | Stulnev / Koshelev / Malykh / Samitov | RUS | 11 | 5.11 | 5.10 | 51.29 | 51.31 | 1:42.60 |
| 7 | Won / Kim / Seo / Chae | KOR | 8 | 5.18 | 5.18 | 51.38 | 51.46 | 1:42.84 |
| 7 | Dvorak / Suchy / Sindelar / Nosek | CZE | 10 | 5.12 | 5.15 | 51.34 | 51.50 | 1:42.84 |
| 9 | Vogt / Weber / Gyger / Beieri | SUI | 5 | 5.20 | 5.21 | 51.39 | 51.48 | 1:42.87 |
| 10 | Deen / Butterworth / Simons / Olubi | GBR | 18 | 5.19 | 5.22 | 51.45 | 51.47 | 1:42.92 |
| 11 | Kibermanis / Kaufmanis / Vilkaste / Miknis | LAT | 9 | 5.21 | 5.24 | 51.41 | 51.53 | 1:42.94 |
| 12 | Hall / Taylor / Dawes / Cackett | GBR | 17 | 5.27 | 5.26 | 51.59 | 51.59 | 1:43.18 |
| 13 | Maier / Walch / Sammer / Moldovan | AUT | 15 | 5.32 | 5.33 | 51.60 | 51.65 | 1:43.25 |
| 14 | Baumgartner / Ughi / Verginer / Bilotti | ITA | 21 | 5.22 | 5.22 | 51.66 | 51.60 | 1:43.26 |
| 15 | Rohner / Leimgruber / Fearon / Giumma | SUI | 20 | 5.22 | 5.22 | 51.67 | 51.69 | 1:43.36 |
| 16 | de Bruin / Dumas / Veenker / Franjic | NED | 22 | 5.29 | 5.27 | 51.72 | 51.72 | 1:43.44 |
| 17 | Jin / Wu / Wu / Chen | CHN | 23 | 5.20 | 5.22 | 51.68 | 51.77 | 1:43.45 |
| 18 | Heinrich / Alais / Hauterville / Laporal | FRA | 14 | 5.22 | 5.23 | 51.71 | 51.75 | 1:43.46 |
| 18 | Suk / Kim / Kim / Kang | KOR | 16 | 5.25 | 5.30 | 51.67 | 51.79 | 1:43.46 |
| 20 | Berzins / Nemme / Springis / Pirogs | LAT | 19 | 5.14 | 5.16 | 51.69 | 51.84 | 1:43.53 |
| 21 | Treichl / Glück / Mitterer / Huber | AUT | 1 | 5.33 | 51.73 | |||
| 22 | Popov / Zaytsev / Kondratenko / Mordasov | RUS | 2 | 5.20 | 51.81 | |||
| 23 | Shao / Shi / Liu / Ma | CHN | 3 | 5.22 | 51.84 | |||
| 24 | Shinohara / Kaneko / Murakami / Homma | JPN | 24 | 5.26 | 52.32 |
