From Lillehammer, NOR
Alexander Czudaj edged out teammate Hans Peter Hannighofer on Friday to win his first career Europe Cup gold medal in two-man bobsled action.
Czudaj, the reigning Youth Olympic Games bobsled champion, trailed Hannighofer by .01 going into the second heat, with previous day’s winner Timo Rohner sitting back in third.
In the second heat, the Swiss team of Rohner and brakeman Dusan Novakovic solidified another medal as they took the lead ahead of Germany’s Laurin Zern and Henrik Proske by .16. Czudaj and brakeman Jörn Wenzel then took the lead by .37 with what would eventually be the heat’s quickest run.
That left Hannighofer. He and brakeman Henrik Bosse had the quick push of the heat, but from there they trailed Czudaj at every split. As they crossed the line, they were .15 seconds back in second.
The win was the first for Czudaj at the senior level of competition. He’d previously never medaled in Europe Cup competition, with a career-best of fifth.
Zern took fourth, ahead of teamate Nico Semmler as Germany once again took four of the top five spots in two-man bobsled.
Great Britain’s Adam Baird finished a career-best sixth, tied with Romania’s Mihai Tentea.
Lichtenstein’s Martin Kranz finished just out of the top ten in 12th, while Trinidad and Tobago’s Axel Brown finished 15th.
Joshua Hudson rounded out the British effort in 19th.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Finish |
| 1 | Czudaj / Wenzel | GER | 9 | 5.12 | 5.12 | 51.65 | 51.73 | 1:43.38 |
| 2 | Hannighofer / Bosse | GER | 4 | 5.08 | 5.11 | 51.64 | 51.89 | 1:43.53 |
| 2 | Rohner / Novakovic | SUI | 13 | 5.13 | 5.15 | 51.77 | 51.98 | 1:43.75 |
| 4 | Zern / Proske | GER | 8 | 5.18 | 5.22 | 51.89 | 52.02 | 1:43.91 |
| 5 | Semmler / Dahms | GER | 12 | 5.18 | 5.23 | 51.97 | 52.08 | 1:44.05 |
| 6 | Baird / Greenwood | GBR | 10 | 5.22 | 5.24 | 52.16 | 52.32 | 1:44.48 |
| 6 | Tentea / Pacioianu | ROU | 11 | 5.23 | 5.25 | 52.23 | 52.25 | 1:44.48 |
| 8 | Mandlbauer / Nichols-Bardi | AUT | 7 | 5.17 | 5.17 | 52.28 | 52.41 | 1:44.69 |
| 9 | Stanbridge / Dixon | GBR | 6 | 5.31 | 5.32 | 52.31 | 52.45 | 1:44.76 |
| 10 | Verginer / Garbo | ITA | 5 | 5.15 | 5.20 | 52.32 | 52.49 | 1:44.81 |
| 11 | Wesselink / Franjic | NED | 19 | 5.19 | 5.18 | 52.63 | 52.56 | 1:45.19 |
| 12 | Kranz / Bertschler | LIE | 8 | 5.33 | 5.32 | 52.62 | 52.58 | 1:45.20 |
| 13 | Kaiser / Zech | AUT | 14 | 5.33 | 5.30 | 52.71 | 52.51 | 1:45.22 |
| 14 | Behounek / Wijas | CZE | 20 | 5.22 | 5.19 | 52.50 | 52.76 | 1:45.26 |
| 15 | Brown / John | TTO | 17 | 5.36 | 5.41 | 52.64 | 52.69 | 1:45.33 |
| 16 | Hanschitz / Seifert | AUT | 15 | 5.30 | 5.33 | 52.61 | 52.80 | 1:45.41 |
| 17 | Nica / Dumitrache | ROU | 16 | 5.47 | 5.29 | 52.91 | 52.54 | 1:45.45 |
| 18 | Boron / Buba | POL | 1 | 5.36 | 5.31 | 52.87 | 52.68 | 1:45.55 |
| 19 | Hudson / Kay | GBR | 21 | 5.29 | 5.32 | 52.85 | 52.82 | 1:45.67 |
| 20 | Turea / Dobre | ROU | 2 | 5.24 | 5.26 | 52.99 | 53.14 | 1:46.13 |
| 21 | Prochazka / Kadlec | CZE | 22 | 5.23 | 53.07 | |||
| 22 | Baechler / Alais | FRA | 26 | 5.41 | 53.28 | |||
| 23 | Gazmuri-Olivares / Kongssund | NOR | 3 | 5.50 | 53.34 | |||
| 24 | Sienkiewicz / Boinski | POL | 23 | 5.41 | 53.43 | |||
| 25 | Dinca / Asurdoaie | ROU | 24 | 5.37 | 53.99 | |||
| 26 | Dferreira / Jeronimo | BRA | 27 | 5.30 | 54.42 | |||
| 27 | Ribeiro / Larrinaga | POR | 25 | 5.48 | 54.46 |
