Friedrich Holds Off Hall for Igls Gold

From Igls, AUT

(February 11, 2023) – Francesco Friedrich and Brad Hall have battled all season long for four-man dominance and in the penultimate four-man competition of the 2022/2023 season they once again fought for gold.

In the first run Friedrich and Hall both slid under the old track record set by Friedrich, with the German holding off the British slider by just .15. Behind them, Latvia’s Emils Cipulis, Austria’s Markus Treichl, and Germany’s Johannes Lochner all were battling for medals as well.

On the second run Hall was once again quick, .02 quicker than his first run and fast enough to take the lead from Lochner. Lochner had moved up two spots into the medals with a strong second run of his own.

That left Friedrich’s team to go. They set the quick start of the race, and while Friedrich couldn’t quite match his record-breaking first run he was still faster than anyone else as he slid to gold by .19 over Hall.

The gold for Friedrich was his fourth in four-man on the season, while the silver for Hall was his third.

Lochner’s bronze medal was his third on the season. All three sliders have yet to finish outside of the top six all season.

Cipulis, the World Championships co-silver medalist alongside Hall, fell from third to fourth in the second heat, just ahead of Treichl in fifth.

Germany’s Christoph Hafer finished sixth.

Canada’s Pat Norton finished 14th in his first four-man event in Igls. American Geoff Gadbois finished 18th. Frank Del Duca, in the other American sled, had put down a great first run that would have left him in the top ten after one run. However, he was overweight by less than a kilogram and the sled was disqualified.

With one race left to go in the four-man bobsled season, Friedrich leads Hall by 15 points. If Hall wins the race on Sunday, he will finish with at least a tie for the championships. Lochner is third overall, with Treichl and Hafer fourth and fifth.

Results: