From Altenberg, GER
(January 21, 2023) – Johannes Lochner is having the two-man season of his career, and that season got even better with another win in Altenberg.
Lochner sat third after the first heat, just behind Swiss pilot Michael Vogt and German teammate Francesco Friedrich, with all three sliders within a tenth of each other. On the second run it was Lochner who went first, and he put down a blistering run through the heavy snow and scored the only downtime under 56 seconds. His start with Erec Bruckert was the quickest of the competition.
The pressure was on an injured Francesco Friedrich. He and brakeman Alexander Schüller had Friedrich’s best start since his injury over the Christmas break, but one big hit below Kreisel sank Friedrich’s run as the German fell behind Lochner by nearly a half second.
That left Michael Vogt, who once again found himself in a position to possibly win his first World Cup gold medal. Vogt and Sandro Michel put down a competitive start, and Vogt’s slide was mostly clean. However the Swiss pilot couldn’t match Lochner’s nearly flawless run, and as he crossed the finish line he was .05 back, plenty good enough for silver.
The win was Lochner’s ninth in two-man, matching his four-man tally. It was also his fourth straight in the discipline. For Vogt, the silver was the third of his career.
Freidrich finished third and showed that he’s at least close to fully back from an injury that left him hardly able to push earlier in the calendar year.
Great Britain’s Brad Hall, a silver medalist in two-man bobsled a week ago, was fourth, well ahead of Germany’s Christoph Hafer in fifth.
Timo Rohner of Switzerland scored a career-best World Cup two-man finish with a sixth place effort.
French pilot Romain Heinrich was making his farewell runs in the World Cup in Altenberg. He will race in St. Moritz in World Championships, but finished his two-man World Cup career with an eighth place finish, tied with Patrick Baumgartner
Taylor Austin drove the lone North American sled in the field. He entered the second heat in 16th after a skiddy first run. His second drive was in a heavy snow, and the Canadian dropped just behind Latvian Jekabs Kalenda to 17th.
With two races to go on the World Cup calendar Johannes Lochner has a 56 point lead over Francesco Friedrich. Brad Hall is third, 86 points back, with Christoph Hafer and Michael Vogt rounding out the top five.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Lochner / Bruckert | GER | 13 | 5.29 | 5.23 | 55.60 | 55.90 | 1:51.50 |
| 2 | Vogt / Michel | SUI | 8 | 5.30 | 5.29 | 55.50 | 56.05 | 1:51.55 |
| 3 | Friedrich / Schüller | GER | 6 | 5.31 | 5.28 | 55.53 | 56.35 | 1:51.88 |
| 4 | Hall / Lawrence | GBR | 5 | 5.26 | 5.25 | 55.70 | 56.24 | 1:51.94 |
| 5 | Hafer / Schneider | GER | 4 | 5.48 | 5.45 | 55.90 | 56.35 | 1:52.25 |
| 6 | Rohner / Rolli | SUI | 1 | 5.36 | 5.31 | 56.10 | 56.37 | 1:52.37 |
| 7 | Cipulis / Miknis | LAT | 9 | 5.30 | 5.29 | 56.10 | 56.74 | 1:52.84 |
| 8 | Heinrich / Hauterville | FRA | 19 | 5.44 | 5.42 | 56.42 | 56.49 | 1:52.91 |
| 8 | Baumgartner / Mircea | ITA | 15 | 5.45 | 5.41 | 56.30 | 56.61 | 1:52.91 |
| 10 | Tentea / Daroczi | ROU | 16 | 5.41 | 5.43 | 56.54 | 56.49 | 1:53.03 |
| 11 | Dvorak / Prochazka | CZE | 14 | 5.42 | 5.43 | 56.50 | 56.61 | 1:53.11 |
| 12 | Follador / Haas | SUI | 11 | 5.44 | 5.46 | 56.61 | 56.52 | 1:53.13 |
| 13 | Treichl / Mitterer | AUT | 12 | 5.42 | 5.41 | 56.41 | 56.91 | 1:53.32 |
| 14 | Variola / Obou | ITA | 3 | 5.33 | 5.29 | 56.11 | 57.22 | 1:53.33 |
| 15 | Li / Zhen | CHN | 17 | 5.43 | 5.39 | 56.56 | 56.88 | 1:53.44 |
| 16 | Kalenda / Kleinbergs | LAT | 18 | 5.33 | 5.37 | 56.68 | 56.86 | 1:53.54 |
| 17 | Austin / Gray | CAN | 7 | 5.49 | 5.55 | 56.66 | 56.92 | 1:53.58 |
| 18 | Dobes / Zalesky | CZE | 10 | 5.39 | 5.43 | 57.02 | 57.62 | 1:54.64 |
| 19 | Silic / Starek | CRO | 2 | 5.83 | 5.91 | 57.68 | 58.10 | 1:55.78 |
