From Lake Placid, USA
(December 17, 2022) – Johannes Locher dominated the two-man bobsled race in Lake Placid, cruising to a .32 second victory over teammate Francesco Friedrich.
Lochner and brakeman Georg Fleischhauer set the quick start of the race in the first heat on their way to a .17 second advantage over Friedrich and Alexander Schüller, with Switzerland’s Michael Vogt and Sandro Michel lingering around in third.
On the second run Friedrich and Schüller threw down the quick start of the heat and Friedrich had a smooth drive to take the lead, but only .06 ahead of Vogt. Lochner answered and set the quickest time of the heat, and with it the fastest two runs of the whole race to win by .32 over Friedrich.
It was the first win for Lochner of the season, and first two-man gold for him since the 2020/2021 season (Igls). For Friedrich, the silver snapped a four race win streak.
Lochner credited at least part of his win on he and Fleischhauer’s quick start.
“The track was great, we were really fast at the start and faster than Frascesco,” Lochner said. It’s been years since we’ve been that quick. Track was good, really looking forward to the four-man tomorrow!”
Michael Vogt and Sandro Michel finished with a bronze medal, his second straight and fifth of his career.
Germany put three sleds in the top four, with Christoph Hafer in fourth. Brad Hall had the fifth place run in both heats to finish fifth, while Austria’s Markus Treichl finished sixth.
Frank Del Duca was nursing a high ankle sprain suffered roughly a week ago and slid to an eighth place finish. Teammate Geoff Gadbois finished tenth.
Canada’s Taylor Austin finished ninth, while Pat Norton finished 13th in his first ever two-man World Cup event.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Lochner / Fleischhauer | GER | 5 | 5.04 | 5.07 | 55.90 | 55.98 | 1:51.88 |
| 2 | Friedrich / Schüller | GER | 9 | 5.06 | 5.06 | 56.07 | 56.13 | 1:52.20 |
| 3 | Vogt / Michel | SUI | 10 | 5.15 | 5.14 | 56.11 | 56.15 | 1:52.26 |
| 4 | Hafer / Sommer | GER | 13 | 5.21 | 5.21 | 56.28 | 56.47 | 1:52.75 |
| 5 | Hall / Cackett | GBR | 12 | 5.11 | 5.15 | 56.30 | 56.49 | 1:52.79 |
| 6 | Treichl / Sammer | AUT | 7 | 5.24 | 5.21 | 56.67 | 56.83 | 1:53.50 |
| 7 | Friedli / Haas | SUI | 8 | 5.17 | 5.17 | 56.77 | 56.74 | 1:53.51 |
| 8 | Del Duca / Abdul-Saboor | USA | 4 | 5.23 | 5.23 | 56.71 | 56.88 | 1:53.59 |
| 9 | Austin / Gray | CAN | 11 | 5.34 | 5.35 | 56.93 | 56.88 | 1:53.81 |
| 10 | Gadbois / Christofferson | USA | 3 | 5.28 | 5.28 | 57.01 | 57.12 | 1:54.13 |
| 11 | Follador / Mariani | SUI | 6 | 5.28 | 5.27 | 57.09 | 57.05 | 1:54.14 |
| 12 | Bindilatti / Jeronimo | BRA | 1 | 5.30 | 5.34 | 57.02 | 57.31 | 1:54.33 |
| 13 | Norton / M’Pindou | CAN | 2 | 5.38 | 5.43 | 57.30 | 57.51 | 1:54.81 |
