From Sigulda, LAT
(December 15, 2024) – A day after winning a silver medal in Sigulda, Johannes Lochner slid to gold in the final IBSF World Cup race of the 2024 calendar year.
Lochner and new brakeman Jörn Wenzel had the quick start of the first heat finishers and finished their run well ahead of anyone else. As the field filled in behind them in the first heat, Francesco Friedrich and Alexander Schüller slid into second, but were then bumped by Brad Hall and Taylor Lawrence.
The three sleds were separated by just .08 after the first heat.
In the second heat Friedrich was off first of the medal contenders. He and Schüller pushed to the quick start of the race, and Friedrich had a quick drive down for most of his run. But the German champ had a few late bumps and while he took the lead, the door was left open.
Hall was next, and on the hunt for his first two-man medal since January of 2023 (Altenberg). He and Lawrence matched their first run start, and Hall nearly matched his first drive as the Brits took the lead by .09 wit only Lochner to go.
Lochner and Wenzel were a tick slower off the start than in their first run, and early on Lochner and Hall were neck-and-neck. But Lochner’s bottom few curves were quicker than Hall’s, and the German took gold by .21, a margin of victory that was perhaps larger than it felt.
The win for Lochner was his 16th in two-man bobsled, while the silver for Hall was his seventh in two-man.
For Friedrich, the bronze medal was the 80th World Cup two-man medal in his career and 136th between two-man and four-man.
Behind Friedrich, Monaco’s Boris Vain put down a pair of great drives that he paired with two competitive starts alongside Arthur Prevost to slid to fourth place, not just a career-best as a pilot but a career-best in his decade-plus long career as a World Cup athlete, both on brakes and as a pilot.
USA’s Frank Del Duca had a pair of top five starts with Charlie Volker. The duo found themselves tied for sixth with Patrick Baumgartner after the first heat, but Del Duca was able to clean up his second run a bit to slide to not just out-slide Baumgartner for the position, but to move up from the tie for sixth to fifth place.
Markus Treichl, the previous day’s bronze medalist, finished just .01 behind Del Duca in sixth.
Three races into the IBSF World Cup two-man season, Friedrich leads Lochner by five points, with Brad Hall in third. Markus Treichl and Patrick Baumgartner round out the top five.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Lochner / Wenzel | GER | 9 | 4.89 | 4.90 | 49.67 | 49.57 | 1:39.24 |
| 2 | Hall / Lawrence | GBR | 13 | 4.90 | 4.90 | 49.72 | 49.73 | 1:39.45 |
| 3 | Friedrich / Schüller | GER | 12 | 4.89 | 4.83 | 49.75 | 49.79 | 1:39.54 |
| 4 | Vain / Prevost | MON | 2 | 5.02 | 5.00 | 50.00 | 49.97 | 1:39.97 |
| 5 | Del Duca / Volker | USA | 14 | 4.91 | 4.95 | 50.09 | 50.02 | 1:40.11 |
| 6 | Treichl / Nichols-Bardi | AUT | 7 | 5.00 | 5.04 | 49.99 | 50.13 | 1:40.12 |
| 7 | Baumgartner / Mircea | ITA | 5 | 5.02 | 5.03 | 50.09 | 50.07 | 1:40.16 |
| 8 | Follador / Rolli | SUI | 8 | 5.04 | 5.05 | 50.16 | 50.05 | 1:40.21 |
| 9 | Li / An | CHN | 6 | 5.01 | 4.99 | 50.27 | 50.05 | 1:40.32 |
| 10 | Kim / Kim | KOR | 16 | 4.93 | 4.94 | 50.23 | 50.22 | 1:40.45 |
| 11 | Rohner / Annen | SUI | 10 | 5.07 | 5.11 | 50.33 | 50.14 | 1:40.47 |
| 12 | Kalenda / Bebriss | LAT | 11 | 4.97 | 5.02 | 50.32 | 50.20 | 1:40.52 |
| 13 | Tentea / Pacioianu | ROU | 18 | 5.08 | 5.08 | 50.35 | 50.21 | 1:40.56 |
| 14 | Turea / Dinca | ROU | 3 | 5.13 | 5.11 | 50.56 | 50.50 | 1:41.06 |
| 15 | Behounek / Vila | CZE | 17 | 5.06 | 5.09 | 50.64 | 50.47 | 1:41.11 |
| 16 | Variola / Batti | ITA | 15 | 5.02 | 5.04 | 50.82 | 50.33 | 1:41.15 |
| DNS | Sun / Zhen | CHN | 1 | 5.01 | 52.50 | |||
| DNS | Ammour / Hertel | GER | 4 | 4.84 | 62.77 |