From Winterberg, GER
(January 7, 2023) – Johannes Lochner won his second straight IBSF World Cup two-man gold medal in Winterberg, and with it took the World Cup point lead from teammate Francesco Friedrich.
Lochner and brakeman Georg Fleischhauer, up from European Cup, set the quick start time in both heats. That included a 5.09 start in the second heat that neared the track record of 5.05 despite relatively slow ice conditions. With those two starts, the German pilot took it from there, setting the quick time at every split in both heats on his way to his second straight gold medal and seventh in his two-man career.
Swiss pilot Micahel Vogt and brakeman Sandro Michel threw down a big start of their own, and Vogt matched it with a heat-tying quick time to slide up from fourth in the first heat to win silver, the second of his career.
Vogt edged out Brad Hall for the silver medal. Hall, who was third coming in to the heat looked to possibly be out of the medals until Germany’s Christoph Hafer made a mistake in his second run to fall behind the Brit.
Hafer finished fourth, ahead of Simon Friedli, who moved up from seventh to finish fifth.
Francesco Friedrich pulled a muscle during sprint training at the end of December and isn’t fully back yet. His pushes with Thorsten Margis were well off of their traditional pace, 11th and 15th quickest in the race. Despite that, Friedrich was able to hold on for a sixth place finish. It was his first race off of the podium in Winterberg since 2014.
Emils Cipulis scored his first ever top ten finish for Latvia with a seventh place effort.
Canada’s Taylor Austin had an issue early in his first run, but rallied from that to finish 11th in his first Winterberg race.
Lichtenstein’s Paul Kranz made his World Cup debut with a 17th place finish.
The United States did not enter a sled in the event, as Frank Del Duca both recently welcomed his first child into the world and has been nursing an ankle injury. He’s expected to rejoin the tour shortly.
At the halfway point of the IBSF World Cup two-man schedule, Johannes Lochner leads teammate Francesco Friedrich by six points, while Brad Hall sits just 38 points out of the lead. Michael Vogt is an even 40 points out of the lead in fourth.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Lochner / Fleischhauer | GER | 13 | 5.12 | 5.09 | 55.56 | 55.61 | 1:51.17 |
| 2 | Vogt / Michel | SUI | 5 | 5.20 | 5.18 | 55.70 | 55.61 | 1:51.31 |
| 3 | Hall / Lawrence | GBR | 8 | 5.14 | 5.11 | 55.67 | 55.77 | 1:51.44 |
| 4 | Hafer / Sommer | GER | 7 | 5.27 | 5.25 | 55.66 | 55.82 | 1:51.48 |
| 5 | Friedli / Haas | SUI | 12 | 5.21 | 5.18 | 56.00 | 55.87 | 1:51.87 |
| 6 | Friedrich / Margis | GER | 10 | 5.24 | 5.34 | 55.88 | 56.15 | 1:52.03 |
| 7 | Cipulis / Miknis | LAT | 14 | 5.19 | 5.23 | 56.12 | 56.20 | 1:52.32 |
| 8 | Dvorak / Prochazka | CZE | 3 | 5.28 | 5.26 | 56.15 | 56.19 | 1:52.34 |
| 9 | Treichl / Huber | AUT | 11 | 5.22 | 5.26 | 55.93 | 56.61 | 1:52.54 |
| 10 | Rohner / Rolli | SUI | 1 | 5.22 | 5.21 | 56.22 | 56.40 | 1:52.62 |
| 11 | Austin / Murray-Law | CAN | 6 | 5.30 | 5.30 | 56.40 | 56.26 | 1:52.66 |
| 12 | Tentea / Pacioianu | ROU | 9 | 5.34 | 5.36 | 56.42 | 56.43 | 1:52.85 |
| 12 | Variola / Obou | ITA | 15 | 5.16 | 5.18 | 56.51 | 56.34 | 1:52.85 |
| 14 | Li / Wu | CHN | 16 | 5.25 | 5.26 | 56.58 | 56.35 | 1:52.93 |
| 14 | Kalenda / Kleinbergs | LAT | 17 | 5.18 | 5.21 | 56.53 | 56.40 | 1:52.93 |
| 16 | Dobes / Zalesky | CZE | 4 | 5.20 | 5.23 | 56.58 | 56.80 | 1:53.38 |
| 17 | Kranz / Lenherr | LIE | 2 | 5.50 | 5.51 | 56.89 | 57.07 | 1:53.96 |
| 18 | Silic / Starek | CRO | 18 | 5.56 | 5.57 | 57.47 | 57.24 | 1:54.71 |
