From St. Moritz, SUI
(January 19, 2024) – Switzerland’s Timo Rohner held off a trio of Germans to win the first four-man gold medal of his career as a pilot on his home ice in St. Moritz.
Rohner and his team slide out a a miniscule .02 second advantage over Germany’s Max Illmann, while the remainder of the field was relatively far behind and out of gold medal contention.
In the second heat Illmann’s team gave him the quickest start of the day, .07 quicker than their first, and once again Illmann set a strong downtime to put he and his team into the lead with only Rohner to go.
Rohner’s Swiss squad pushed him off only .06 behind Illmann’s time, leaving Rohner just behind Illmann off the start. Rohner’s second effort nearly mirrored Illmann’s until late, as he put together a slightly better final few curves on his way to a .04 second victory over the Germans.
The win for Rohner was the second in his piloting career, having previously won a two-man gold medal in Lillehammer to start the Europe Cup season.
Illman’s silver was his third straight in four-man Europe Cup competition.
Behind Rohner and Illmann, Laurin Zern slid to a bronze medal, .32 off the pace set by Rohner, his second of the four-man season.
Alexander Czudaj finished fourth to round out the German effort. Dutch slider Dave Wesselink finished a career-best fifth, while Czech slider Matej Behounek completed a strong week in St. Moritz with a sixth place finish.
Great Britain’s duo of sleds had a strong pair of second runs. John Stanbridge moved up from 12th in the first heat to finish sixth, while Adam Baird jumped up from 15th to 13th.
The United States had one sled in the top ten, with Geoff Gadbois’s team giving him a pair of top six starts on their way to a tenth place finish. Kris Horn’s squad had a top ten start in the second heat as Horn drove them from 16th in the first heat to 14th.
Five days after a DSQ for missing a slider on his sled, Martin Kranz rallied for an eighth place finish.
Hans Peter Hannighofer, the tour leader in four-man bobsled coming into the event, did not start.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Finish |
| 1 | Rohner / Matthys / Novakovic / Hersperger | SUI | 7 | 5.22 | 5.19 | 66.06 | 65.79 | 2:11.85 |
| 2 | Illmann / Proske / Dahms / Walschburger | GER | 2 | 5.20 | 5.13 | 66.08 | 65.81 | 2:11.89 |
| 3 | Zern / Paul / Götzel / Orthmann | GER | 8 | 5.27 | 5.23 | 66.27 | 65.90 | 2:12.17 |
| 4 | Czudaj / Lüdtke / Sauerbrei / Kesseler | GER | 12 | 5.28 | 5.27 | 66.65 | 66.40 | 2:13.05 |
| 5 | Wesselink / Franjic / Pals / Huis in ‘t Veld | NED | 9 | 5.27 | 5.28 | 67.11 | 66.54 | 2:13.65 |
| 6 | Behounek / Fomenko / Havelka / Wijas | CZE | 11 | 5.43 | 5.33 | 67.00 | 66.70 | 2:13.70 |
| 7 | Mandlbauser / Wiener / Hanschitz / Nichols-Bardi | AUT | 10 | 5.30 | 5.25 | 67.26 | 66.76 | 2:14.02 |
| 8 | Kranz / Tschofen / Lenherr / Bertschler | LIE | 18 | 5.43 | 5.40 | 67.20 | 67.12 | 2:14.32 |
| 9 | Stanbridge / Riekstins / Dixon / Hudson | GBR | 14 | 5.48 | 5.40 | 67.75 | 66.65 | 2:14.40 |
| 10 | Gadbois / Blueberg / Cheek / Storms | USA | 6 | 5.29 | 5.27 | 67.39 | 67.16 | 2:14.55 |
| 11 | Scherrer / Hofer / Grueninger / Grüninger | SUI | 17 | 5.44 | 5.48 | 66.98 | 68.30 | 2:15.28 |
| 12 | Kaiser / Ogbevoen / Zech / Volgger | AUT | 4 | 5.37 | 5.41 | 67.91 | 67.41 | 2:15.32 |
| 13 | Baird / Kay / Hullah / Williams | GBR | 3 | 5.46 | 5.37 | 67.92 | 67.42 | 2:15.34 |
| 14 | Horn / Simon / Johnson / Joseph | USA | 1 | 5.51 | 5.34 | 67.99 | 67.50 | 2:15.49 |
| 15 | Turea / Bucur / Cordos / Dumitrache | ROU | 16 | 5.51 | 5.51 | 67.88 | 67.84 | 2:15.72 |
| 16 | Rohn / Binggeli / Toure / Gnägi | SUI | 19 | 5.40 | 5.50 | 67.51 | 68.62 | 2:16.13 |
| 17 | Nica / Asurdoaie / Oleinic / Dinca | ROU | 15 | 5.52 | 5.50 | 68.91 | 68.67 | 2:17.58 |
| DNS | Sobczyk / Buba / Sienkiewicz / Boinski | POL | 20 | 5.50 | 68.53 | DNS | ||
| DNS | Verginer / Pagnini / Storti / Ragazzi | ITA | 13 | 5.38 | 71.39 | DNS | ||
| DNS | Hannighofer / Hempel / Becker / Leypold | GER | 5 | DNS |