From Sigulda, LAT
(February 18, 2023) – Johannes Lochner is one race away from his first IBSF two-man world cup championship after cruising to victory in Sigulda.
Lochner and Georg Fleishhauer had the quick start of the competition in the first heat and with that Lochner drove them to a .14 second lead over Francesco Friedrich, with Great Britain’s Brad Hall lingering in third.
On the second run Hall had an early mistake that dropped him out of medal contention and put Germany’s Maxmilian Illmann into the medals after a great drive by the German.
Friedrich was the penultimate pilot down the Latvian track. He and Alexander Schüller had a strong start, but a bit of trouble out of Curve 14 and a wavy Kreisel put Friedrich to within .02 of Illmann, but still in the lead.
That left Lochner. His second run was just as clean as the first, and cleaner than any of the contenders, as he slid to a .36 victory to lead the German sweep of the podium.
Friedrich was second, with Illmann and Joshua Tasche in the third German sled in third.
Lochner’s gold was his fifth straight, while Friedrich’s silver was his best two-man World Cup finish since Lake Placid.
For Illmann, the bronze medal was his first on the World Cup circuit. Previously he’d won six European Cup gold medals, including in the Sigulda event earlier in the season.
Latvian standout Emils Cipulis moved up from fifth in the first heat to finish fourth, just ahead of Great Britain’s Brad Hall in fifth. Hall had an issue in the first two curves of the race that dropped him out of medal contention.
Switzerland’s Michael Vogt rounded out the top six.
With one race left to go in the 2022/2023, Lochner holds a 71 point lead over Friedrich. An eighth place finish or better for Lochner in the final race of the season will clinch his first ever two-man title.
Friedrich is in second, 56 points head of Hall in third. As long as both pilots finish their races on Sunday both will be guaranteed a top three finish on the season.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Lochner / Fleischhauer | GER | 5 | 4.84 | 4.94 | 49.74 | 50.63 | 1:40.37 |
| 2 | Friedrich / Schüller | GER | 11 | 4.88 | 4.98 | 49.88 | 50.85 | 1:40.73 |
| 3 | Illmann / Tasche | GER | 7 | 4.89 | 4.93 | 50.17 | 50.58 | 1:40.75 |
| 4 | Cipulis / Miknis | LAT | 6 | 4.86 | 4.92 | 50.23 | 50.91 | 1:41.14 |
| 5 | Hall / Lawrence | GBR | 12 | 4.90 | 5.00 | 50.15 | 51.07 | 1:41.22 |
| 6 | Vogt / Bieri | SUI | 4 | 5.00 | 5.10 | 50.26 | 51.11 | 1:41.37 |
| 7 | Baumgartner / Mircea | ITA | 9 | 5.05 | 5.06 | 50.38 | 51.21 | 1:41.59 |
| 8 | Li / Ye | CHN | 1 | 4.97 | 5.00 | 50.34 | 51.28 | 1:41.62 |
| 9 | Kalenda / Kleinbergs | LAT | 3 | 4.95 | 5.01 | 50.62 | 51.27 | 1:41.89 |
| 10 | Dobes / Zalesky | CZE | 10 | 5.00 | 5.07 | 50.87 | 51.11 | 1:41.98 |
| 11 | Follador / Hufschmeid | SUI | 13 | 5.10 | 5.16 | 50.69 | 51.32 | 1:42.01 |
| 12 | Behounek / Wijas | CZE | 2 | 5.06 | 5.07 | 50.71 | 51.43 | 1:42.14 |
| 13 | Treichl / Stepan | AUT | 8 | 4.97 | 5.05 | 50.43 | 52.50 | 1:42.93 |
