Ammour Wins First World Cup Gold in Sigulda

From Sigulda, LAT

(February 3, 2024) – For the first time, Adam Ammour and Benedikt Hertel came into the second heat of a World Cup two-man bobsled race in an unfamiliar position. They were ahead of a World Cup bobsled field. Ammour had won races at the Europe Cup level, and been in the mix for a World Cup podium, but never had been the last one off the top in a major event.

So in a race where few pilots were able to put down a clean run once, let alone twice, many could have been excused if they thought the German might not hang on to gold.

But Ammour and Hertel answered with the fastest push of the competition in the second heat, and Ammour answered with a run that tied for the fastest of the race to win Ammour’s first gold at the World Cup level.

Ammour had previously won two-man bronze in Lillehammer and Igls, as well as four-man bronze in La Plagne. His most recent bobsled win was in two-man European Cup competition in Igls.

Behind Ammour, three familiar faces were battling for two more podium positions. Michael Vogt and Sandro Michel didn’t have the first or even second quickest run of either heat, but two consistent runs for the Swiss team gave them silver, .03 ahead of Germany’s Francesco Friedrich and Matthias Sommer, who won bronze.

The odd man off the podium was Johannes Lochner with Georg Fleischhauer, who finished .04 behind Friedrich in third. Fleischhauer had never missed out on a two-man podium in ten previous races. Lochner’s streak went one race farther to 11.

Swiss pilot Simon Friedli with Luca Rolli finished fifth on an island all by themselves, while Patrick Baumgartner and Eric Fantazzini finished sixth.

Frank Del Duca and Hakeem Abdul-Saboor sat 14th after the first heat, but only a tenth out of the top ten. In the second heat Del Duca put down a strong second run and began to move up the standings. By the time the Americans had finished climbing they were in a tie for eighth with Latvia’s Emils Cipulis and Davis Springis.

Just ahead of Del Duca, Great Britain’s Brad Hall continued to work his way back into two-man form after missing the start of the season to injury. He and Taylor Lawrence had two competitive starts on their way to a seventh place finish, up from ninth in the first heat.

Adam Baird made his two-man bobsled World Cup debut on Saturday alongside Jens Hullah in the second British sled. Baird’s second drive was nearly a full second faster than his first as he slid from 18th to 17th.

With two races to go in the IBSF World Cup two-man season, Johannes Lochner leads Francesco Friedrich by 62 points. Michael Vogt sits third within 100 points of Lochner. Simon Friedli and Emils Cipulis round out the top five.

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