From St. Moritz, SUI
(February 5, 2023) – Over the course of the 2023 IBSF World Championships there has been many winners, all of whom were new to the top of the World Championships podium. On the final day of competition a familiar face showed up to show why he’s the most decorated athlete in IBSF history.
Germany’s Francesco Friedrich carried a .2 second lead over Great Britain’s Brad Hall into the third heat of the four-man bobsled race, with Latvia’s Emils Cipulis in the hunt in third. Johannes Lochner, the two-man world champion, was fourth but well behind those competing for the podium.
On the third run Friedrich was third quickest, behind Cipulis and Hall as Hall got within .08 of Friedrich. Cipulis ended the third heat .32 out of the silver medal.
On the final run Cipulis once again was quick as he took the lead with just Hall and Friedrich to go. Hall’s final run was bumpy, especially below the Horseshoe curve, and as he crossed the finish line he found himself tied with Cipulis with only Friedrich to go.
That left Friedrich to go. As they had the previous three runs, his team gave him the quickest start of the heat. From there, Friedrich was nearly flawless as he set the quick time of the race to win by .69 over Hall and Cipulis.
The win was the fifth straight four-man world championship title for Friedrich. Including two-man events, he now has 12 world titles. Of those titles, a gold in St. Moritz after a season marred by injury may be the best one yet.
“It was really important for me to win this race,” Friedrich said. “It’s important because of the injury and most importantly because it’s St. Moritz. St. Moritz is the king of the bobsleigh tracks, and if you can win here it’s the greatest award you can receive after the Olympics.”
Though he didn’t win gold, Hall’s silver medal was a historic one. It marked the first four-man bobsled world championship medal since Frederick McEvoy earned a silver in the Cortina-held championship in 1939.
“I’m very, very happy with the medal,” Hall said. “The last run was a little bit rocky and we made it a bit hard for ourselves. But to come away with a silver medal is just fantastic. It’s been a long time coming for Great Britain, and to get that medal is a massive achievement.”
Cipulis, with only 13 IBSF World Cup starts to his name, gave Latvia its first World Championships medal since Oskars Kibermanis and his team won silver in the 2019 event in Whistler.
Lochner finished fourth despite a rough event which saw him need to swap out multiple push athletes during the race. He edged out Switzerland’s Michael Vogt, who finished fifth. Christoph Hafer helped put three German sleds in the top six with a sixth place effort.
Canada’s Taylor Austin had the best run of his championships on the last run on his way to a 13th place finish. Afterward, he was thrilled with how that last run went.
“To be honest, there were some highs and lows to these World Championships but we finished strong with that last run. It was our best run of the last couple of weeks. The team really came together on that last run today!”
USA’s Geoff Gadbois also had a strong final run as he moved up to 18th with his last effort.
“Today was a lot better than yesterday,” Gadbois said. “I was having a lot of problem skidding. The ice is rock hard and very slick right now, ironically it’s a lot warmer than the whole time we were training. We had some issues in the first heat that we worked out in the second run. It’s one of the most difficult St. Moritz tracks I’ve slid.”
Pat Norton, who had an outstanding two-man program the week before, never found his groove in the four-man sled and finished 20th.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Run 1 | Run 2 | Run 3 | Run 4 | Total |
| 1 | Friedrich / Margis / Bauer / Schüller | GER | 9 | 65.08 | 64.75 | 65.05 | 64.73 | 4:19.61 |
| 2 | Hall / Gulliver / Lawrence / Cackett | GBR | 10 | 65.09 | 64.94 | 64.93 | 65.34 | 4:20.30 |
| 2 | Cipulis / Springis / Miknis / Nemme | LAT | 2 | 65.37 | 65.04 | 64.87 | 65.02 | 4:20.30 |
| 4 | Lochner / Bruckert / Fleischhauer / Tasche | GER | 8 | 65.31 | 65.36 | 65.35 | 65.02 | 4:21.04 |
| 5 | Vogt / Weber / Mieri / Michel | SUI | 6 | 65.36 | 65.68 | 65.31 | 65.03 | 4:21.38 |
| 6 | Hafer / Salzer / Sommer / Schneider | GER | 5 | 65.61 | 65.35 | 65.23 | 65.28 | 4:21.47 |
| 7 | Treichl / Stepan / Sammer / Huber | AUT | 7 | 65.75 | 65.40 | 65.24 | 65.27 | 4:21.66 |
| 8 | Semmler / Paul / Peschk / Schenk | GER | 11 | 65.80 | 65.37 | 65.40 | 65.35 | 4:21.92 |
| 9 | Follador / Mariani / Hufschmid / Rolli | SUI | 3 | 65.68 | 65.55 | 65.40 | 65.63 | 4:22.26 |
| 10 | Baumgartner / Fantazzini / Mircea / Bilotti | ITA | 14 | 65.47 | 65.70 | 65.57 | 65.68 | 4:22.42 |
| 11 | Heinrich / Lefebvre / Demarthon / Laporal | FRA | 21 | 65.86 | 65.65 | 65.71 | 65.63 | 4:22.85 |
| 12 | Rohner / Jones / Haas / Waegeli | SUI | 16 | 65.84 | 65.81 | 65.82 | 65.54 | 4:23.01 |
| 13 | Austin / Gray / de Souza / Murray-Law | CAN | 4 | 65.97 | 66.19 | 65.80 | 65.74 | 4:23.70 |
| 14 | Li / Ding / Ye / Wu | CHN | 15 | 66.40 | 66.07 | 66.22 | 65.99 | 4:24.68 |
| 15 | Dobes / Dobes / Prochazka / Zalesky | CZE | 12 | 66.10 | 66.60 | 66.03 | 66.09 | 4:24.82 |
| 16 | Tentea / Daroczi / Pacioianu / Iordache | ROU | 13 | 66.35 | 66.44 | 66.08 | 66.21 | 4:25.08 |
| 17 | Variola / Pagnini / Batti / Obou | ITA | 18 | 66.44 | 66.67 | 66.19 | 66.35 | 4:25.65 |
| 18 | Gadbois / Vissering / Harris / Rabic | USA | 19 | 66.59 | 66.72 | 66.72 | 66.39 | 4:26.42 |
| 19 | Behounek / Bures / Hrazdil / Wijas | CZE | 20 | 66.71 | 66.78 | 66.44 | 66.58 | 4:26.51 |
| 20 | Norton / M’Pindou / Caixeiro / Ashley | CAN | 17 | 66.76 | 66.77 | 66.62 | 66.61 | 4:26.76 |
| DNS | Kalenda / Bebriss / Kaufmanis / Lindenblats | LAT | 1 | 69.43 | DNS | DNS |
