From Igls, AUT
(December 16, 2023) – Johannes Lochner and Georg Fleischhauer continued a streak of outstanding slides in two-man bobsled with yet another victory, this time in Igls.
The ice was quick in Igls, and in the first heat both Lochner and German teammate Francesco Friedrich drove to times under the old track record of 51.04. However Lochner’s time was a 50.88, well below the old record and enough to give him a .14 second advantage going into the second heat.
If there’s one thing the world knows about Friedrich, it’s that he’s not going to go down without a fight. His second start with Alexander Schüller was the fastest of the competition, and his drive was the quickest of the second heat.
That put the pressure on Lochner. But Lochner has been on fire, especially in two-man bobsled, since the beginning of 2022. Coming into the race he’d only finished off of the podium once (a fourth place run in Park City), and up until last week’s race in La Plagne hadn’t finished off of the top of the two-man podium since that same race.
Lochner and Fleischhauer’s start was the second quickest of the race, and Lochner’s second drive, while not as great as the first, was still more than enough to give the German duo their second two-man victory of the 2023/2024 season.
The win for Lochner was his second two-man victory of the season, and second in Igls. It was his 13th gold medal in two-man competition.
For Friedrich, the silver medal was just his second non-victory in Igls since 2015. He’s only missed the two-man podium once, in January of 2014 where the podium was Steven Holcomb, Beat Hefti, and Alexander Zubkov.
Behind the two top Germans was a third, Adam Ammour. He and brothe rIssam Ammour had the third quickest start in both heats and the third quickest run both times to win their first medals on the World Cup circuit.
Frank Del Duca and Josh Williamson had a strong start for two recently healthy athletes, and Del Duca had a bit of a bumpy drive but found himself in fourth after the first heat. The second run was much, much cleaner and the second start was identical as the American duo slid to their second straight fourth place finish, this time only .07 out of the medals.
Michael Vogt finished fifth for Switzerland with two great pushes from Sandro Michel, while Emils Cipulis and Davis Springis finished sixth for Latvia.
Great Britain’s Brad Hall made his return to action after back surgery and finished 11th. Of his four-man team, only Taylor Lawrence isn’t recovering from some kind of major injury. The duo had a pair of quality pushes and missed the top ten by just .08.
Axel Brown made his second World Cup start at the front of a sled for Trinidad and Tobago. Behind him, De Aundre John made his World Cup debut. They finished 23rd in their first World Cup race of the season.
After three races in the two-man bobsled season, Johannes Lochner leads Francesco Friedrich by 40 points, with MIchael Vogt just 11 points behind Friedrich. Patrick Baumgartner and Emils Cipulis round out the top five. USA’s Frank Del Duca is 11th, tied with Adam Ammour of Germany. Neither team slid in Yanqing to start the season.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Lochner / Fleischhauer | GER | 9 | 5.08 | 5.08 | 50.88 | 51.06 | 1:41.94 |
| 2 | Friedrich / Schüller | GER | 13 | 5.06 | 5.03 | 51.02 | 51.00 | 1:42.02 |
| 3 | Ammour / Ammour | GER | 17 | 5.12 | 5.12 | 51.31 | 51.37 | 1:42.68 |
| 4 | Del Duca / Williamson | USA | 12 | 5.17 | 5.17 | 51.33 | 51.42 | 1:42.75 |
| 5 | Vogt / Michel | SUI | 10 | 5.15 | 5.14 | 51.40 | 51.43 | 1:42.83 |
| 6 | Cipulis / Springis | LAT | 4 | 5.18 | 5.19 | 51.48 | 51.69 | 1:43.17 |
| 7 | Treichl / Stepan | AUT | 7 | 5.19 | 5.20 | 51.54 | 51.66 | 1:43.20 |
| 8 | Vain / Riou | MON | 19 | 5.14 | 5.15 | 51.63 | 51.66 | 1:43.29 |
| 9 | Baumgartner / Mircea | ITA | 6 | 5.25 | 5.25 | 51.57 | 51.74 | 1:43.31 |
| 10 | Friedli / Rolli | SUI | 11 | 5.18 | 5.20 | 51.64 | 51.79 | 1:43.43 |
| 11 | Hall / Lawrence | GBR | 24 | 5.21 | 5.24 | 51.73 | 51.78 | 1:43.51 |
| 12 | Li / Wu | CHN | 8 | 5.23 | 5.23 | 51.74 | 51.79 | 1:43.53 |
| 13 | Follador / Jones | SUI | 5 | 5.31 | 5.33 | 51.69 | 51.85 | 1:43.53 |
| 14 | Dvorak / Zalesky | CZE | 20 | 5.20 | 5.20 | 51.80 | 51.86 | 1:43.66 |
| 15 | Kalenda / Ungurs | LAT | 15 | 5.25 | 5.22 | 51.85 | 51.83 | 1:43.68 |
| 16 | Sun / Chi | CHN | 16 | 5.22 | 5.23 | 51.80 | 51.90 | 1:43.70 |
| 17 | Tentea / Pacioianu | ROU | 14 | 5.32 | 4.35 | 51.85 | 51.90 | 1:43.75 |
| 18 | Dobes / Dobes | CZE | 3 | 5.23 | 5.26 | 51.88 | 52.15 | 1:44.03 |
| 19 | Mandlbauer / Nichols-Bardi | AUT | 18 | 5.23 | 5.27 | 51.98 | 52.10 | 1:44.08 |
| 20 | Prochazka / Wijas | CZE | 23 | 5.21 | 5.26 | 52.13 | 52.13 | 1:44.26 |
| 21 | Sobczyk / Sosna | POL | 2 | 5.45 | 52.33 | |||
| 22 | Boron / Sienkiewicz | POL | 21 | 5.32 | 52.44 | |||
| 23 | Brown / John | TTO | 22 | 5.38 | 52.56 | |||
| 24 | Variola / Obou | ITA | 1 | 5.18 | 53.53 |