From Whistler, CAN
(November 26, 2022) – Germany’s Francesco Friedrich had an 11 race World Cup four-man bobsled winning streak snapped in the 2021/2022 season finale in St. Moritz. In Whistler, he began a new streak with a victory in the four-man World Cup opener.
The defending European, world, and Olympic champion’s team gave him the quick start in both heats. At the end of the first run it was Canada’s Taylor Austin just a tenth off of Friedrich’s pace, with Great Britain’s Brad Hall only .05 behind Austin.
In the second heat, Hall put down a near perfect run. Austin couldn’t quite match it as his final few curves were a bit bumpier. As Austin crossed the line Hall had the advantage by .42.
That left Friedrich to stand between Hall and Hall’s first ever World Cup gold medal. Friedrich’s second drive, while not perfect, was plenty quick enough to pull away from the British pilot and slide Germany into the gold medal position.
The gold was his 23rd in World Cup four-man bobsled action and was coupled with a two-man gold on Friday. For Hall, the silver was his fourth. Austin’s bronze was his first World Cup medal in just his second World Cup start.
Just off the podium was Michael Vogt, who had the fourth quickest run in both heats to finish fourth, a career best four-man finish.
Austria’s Markus Treichl finished with a career-best fifth. Off the top with their second run they were close with Johannes Lochner of Germany, but a great bottom half of their run pulled them away from the Olympic silver medalist.
Lochner’s squad pushed .12 quicker in their second heat on their way to a sixth place finish.
USA’s Frank Del Duca finished eighth with two strong start times by his crew. His second run was .13 faster than his first, and quicker than Cedric Follador’s, but Follador had enough in the bank to keep just ahead of the Americans.
In the first run Christoph Hafer’s sled appeared to have a brake failure, and the sled slid all the way off the track into a car park.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Friedrich / Margis / Bauer / Schüller | GER | 8 | 4.78 | 4.76 | 50.99 | 50.57 | 1:41.56 |
| 2 | Hall / Gulliver / Lawrence / Cackett | GBR | 9 | 4.79 | 4.78 | 51.14 | 50.84 | 1:41.98 |
| 3 | Austin / Murray-Lawrence / Gray / de Souza | CAN | 2 | 4.90 | 4.91 | 51.09 | 51.28 | 1:42.37 |
| 4 | Vogt / Knuser / Weber / Michel | SUI | 5 | 4.86 | 4.86 | 51.31 | 51.18 | 1:42.49 |
| 5 | Treichl / Hanschitz / Stepan / Huber | AUT | 4 | 4.95 | 4.89 | 51.38 | 51.14 | 1:42.52 |
| 6 | Lochner / Bauer / Fleischhauer / Rasp | GER | 3 | 4.93 | 4.81 | 51.39 | 51.43 | 1:42.82 |
| 7 | Follador / Mariani / Hufschmeid / Juillard | SUI | 1 | 4.94 | 4.92 | 51.46 | 51.45 | 1:42.91 |
| 8 | Del Duca / Adams / Abdul-Saboor / Mitchell | USA | 10 | 4.87 | 4.89 | 51.53 | 51.40 | 1:42.93 |
| 9 | Friedli / Haas / Jones / Wägeli | SUi | 7 | 4.89 | 4.88 | 51.70 | 51.34 | 1:43.04 |
| DNS | Hafer / Salzer / Sommer / Schneider | GER | 6 | 4.86 | 51.38 | DNS | DNS |
