From Königssee, GER
Jan. 26, 2020 – The list of things Francesco Friedrich has not achieved on the IBSF World Cup tour, but “winning a 4-man World Cup gold in Königssee” was on that list. On Sunday he crossed that item off.
Friedrich had a bumpy first run, but still found himself in second place after the first heat, just .04 behind teammate Johannes Lochner. On the second run Friedrich was nearly flawless, coming within .18 of a track record that nobody else came close to approaching. Lochner’s second run was good, but the reigning European Cup 4-man champion couldn’t match Friedrich’s bottom-half speed. Friedrich took gold, his first World Cup 4-man win in Königssee, a tenth of a second ahead of Lochner.
The win for Lochner leaves Lake Placid as the only track on the 2019/2020 schedule that he has not won a 4-man World Cup race on. The only other active tracks he’s failed to win 4-man gold on are Park City, Whistler, Sochi, and Pyeongchang.
Justin Kripps kept it close in both heats, but had the third quickest run on both trips down the Bavarian track to finish third and win his first 4-man medal in Königssee.
Oskars Kibermanis finished fourth, up from sixth in the first heat. Alexey Stulnev finished fifth, up from eighth, while American Hunter Church finished sixth for his third straight top six 4-man finish in his first ever World Cup trip to Europe.
Great Britain’s Brad Hall continued a strong second half of the season, finishing in tenth for his third top ten in four races, while teammate Lamin Deen finished 12th.
With his win, Friedrich moved to 53 points ahead of Lochner in the 4-man World Cup standings with one race to go. Kripps is third, ahead of Kibermanis, Stulnev, and Church who round out the top six.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Friedrich / Bauer / Grothkopp / Schüller | GER | 7 | 4.79 | 4.77 | 48.59 | 48.44 | 1:37.03 |
| 2 | Lochner / Hertel / Weber / Bauer | GER | 13 | 4.82 | 4.82 | 48.55 | 48.58 | 1:37.13 |
| 3 | Kripps / Sommer / Coakwell / Stones | CAN | 4 | 4.90 | 4.87 | 48.63 | 48.66 | 1:37.29 |
| 4 | Kibermanis / Kaufmanis / Lusis / Miknis | LAT | 6 | 4.92 | 4.86 | 48.77 | 48.68 | 1:37.45 |
| 5 | Stultnev / Koshelev / Malykh / Samitov | RUS | 12 | 4.91 | 4.90 | 48.79 | 48.71 | 1:37.50 |
| 6 | Church / Williamson / Reed / Horn | USA | 8 | 4.87 | 4.86 | 48.71 | 48.85 | 1:37.56 |
| 7 | Berzins / Nemme / Springis / Pirogs | LAT | 2 | 4.91 | 4.88 | 48.70 | 48.89 | 1:37.59 |
| 8 | Walther / Korona / Schwenzfeier / Franke | GER | 9 | 4.88 | 4.89 | 48.77 | 48.87 | 1:37.64 |
| 9 | Dvorak / Suchy / Sindelar / Nosek | CZE | 5 | 4.89 | 4.88 | 48.80 | 48.91 | 1:37.71 |
| 10 | Hall / Taylor / Dawes / Cackett | GBR | 15 | 4.96 | 4.96 | 48.88 | 48.94 | 1:37.82 |
| 11 | Vogt / Weber / Beiri / Michel | SUI | 11 | 4.94 | 4.90 | 49.01 | 48.87 | 1:37.88 |
| 12 | Deen / Butterworth / Letts / Simons | GBR | 16 | 4.96 | 4.92 | 49.01 | 48.91 | 1:37.92 |
| 13 | Treichl / Glück / Mitterer / Huber | AUT | 21 | 4.94 | 4.94 | 49.18 | 48.87 | 1:38.05 |
| 13 | Suk / Kim / Kim / Kang | KOR | 1 | 4.99 | 4.99 | 49.03 | 49.02 | 1:38.05 |
| 15 | Popov / Zaytsev / Kondratenko / Mordasov | RUS | 18 | 4.93 | 4.94 | 49.06 | 49.01 | 1:38.07 |
| 16 | Friedli / Fässler / Leimbruber / Jones | SUI | 3 | 4.92 | 4.93 | 49.15 | 49.11 | 1:38.26 |
| 17 | Baumgartner / Ughi / Verginer / Bilotti | ITA | 17 | 4.98 | 4.96 | 49.16 | 49.11 | 1:38.27 |
| 18 | Won / Kim / Seo / Chae | KOR | 10 | 4.95 | 4.96 | 49.16 | 49.18 | 1:38.34 |
| 19 | Shao / Liu / Shi / Zhen | CHN | 20 | 4.94 | 4.97 | 49.23 | 49.46 | 1:38.69 |
| 20 | Jin / Wu / Wu / Chen | CHN | 22 | 4.95 | 4.98 | 49.09 | 53.09 | 1:42.18 |
| 21 | de Bruin / Dumas / Veenker / Franjic | NED | 19 | 5.06 | 49.30 | |||
| 22 | Shinohara / Kurihara / Murakami / Homma | JPN | 23 | 5.02 | 49.55 | |||
| 23 | Heinrich / Alais / Hauterville / Boutherin | FRA | 14 | 4.95 | 49.71 |
