Friedrich Rallies for Park City 2-man Victory

From Park City, USA

(December 2, 2022) – Francesco Friedrich won another IBSF World Cup two-man bobsled race, but needed to come from behind for gold.

After the first heat Friedrich found himself in third, .15 behind Great Britain’s Brad Hall and .09 Switzerland’s Michael Vogt. On the second run Friedrich and brakeman Thorsten Margis put down the quickest start of the heat and Friedrich drove his FES sled to a race-quickest downtime to move into the lead with Vogt and Hall to go.

Vogt was unable to match his first run’s downtime and fell behind Friedrich. That left Hall between Friedrich and a gold medal.

Hall’s second run was smooth, but not enough to hold off the European, world, and Olympic champion. As Hall crossed the line he found himself in second, .26 behind Friedrich.

Hall and Taylor Lawrence had the quickest start of the race, with a 4.89.

The win gave Friedrich his 46th World Cup two-man gold medal. For Hall, the silver was his fifth, with four of those coming during the 2022 calendar year. Vogt’s bronze was his fourth.

Germany’s Johannes Lochner finished fourth, leapfrogging teammate Christoph Hafer, who finished fifth. Switzerland’s Simon Friedli rounded out the top six.

Frank Del Duca led the way for the United States in Park City with a seventh place finish on a second run that was .4 quicker than his first. Teammate Geoff Gadbois entered the second run in seventh place, but couldn’t find his rhythm in the second run and fell back to tenth in his first World Cup start since the 2020/2021 season.

Taylor Austin finished ninth for Canada in his third two-man World Cup start.

Axel Brown gave Trinidad & Tobago their first ever IBSF World Cup start. Brown and brakeman Marcano Andre finished 13th.

Results: