From Igls, AUT
(December 21, 2024) – For the second time in as many days, Max Illmann out-slid teammate Hans Peter Hannighofer to win gold in Igls.
Illmann’s squad was out-pushed by Hannighofer and his team in both heats. In the first run, Illmann found himself .06 ahead of Hannighofer, with nobody else within a quarter of a second.
In the second heat, Hannighofer slid to the lead with just Illmann left to go. As he had earlier in the day, Illmann overcame a push that was .05 slower than Hannighofer’s to out-slide his teammate, eventually winning by .11.
It was the third straight win between two-man and four-man for Illmann, while Hannighofer once again took silver.
Behind the two Germans, Kris Horn scored his first medal as a pilot outside of North America with a bronze medal. His team matched Hannighofer’s for the quick start of the race in the second heat, and Horn had the third quickest slide in both heats to win bronze.
Dave Wesselink, who himself had won his first career Europe Cup medal a day prior, finished fourth. Tobias Dostthaler took fifth, while Jakob Mandlbauer rounded out the top six.
Geoff Gadbois slid to an eighth place finish in the second American sled.
France’s Romain Heinrich continued his return in four-man bobsled with a ninth place finish. Adam Baird finished 12th in the lone British sled.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Finish |
| 1 | Illmann / Dahms / Wenzel / Frytz | GER | 4 | 5.11 | 5.10 | 50.70 | 50.98 | 1:41.68 |
| 2 | Hannighofer / Schenk / Bosse / Becker | GER | 8 | 5.06 | 5.05 | 50.76 | 51.03 | 1:41.79 |
| 3 | Horn / Williamson / Powell / Niederhofer | USA | 6 | 5.08 | 5.05 | 50.97 | 51.28 | 1:42.25 |
| 4 | Wesselink / Huis in ‘t Veld / Franjic / Franjic | NED | 9 | 5.07 | 5.07 | 51.00 | 51.42 | 1:42.42 |
| 5 | Dostthaler / Büthe / Schaller / Kocevar | GER | 11 | 5.19 | 5.22 | 51.17 | 51.36 | 1:42.53 |
| 6 | Mandlabuer / Glaboniat / Hanschitz / Zech | AUT | 5 | 5.22 | 5.22 | 51.19 | 51.59 | 1:42.78 |
| 7 | Grantins / Ungurs / Kaufmanis / Gulbis | LAT | 1 | 5.22 | 5.23 | 51.25 | 51.68 | 1:42.93 |
| 8 | Gadbois / Storms / Adams / Christofferson | USA | 7 | 5.22 | 5.25 | 51.27 | 51.68 | 1:42.95 |
| 9 | Heinrich / Lefebvre / Hauterville / Laporal | FRA | 12 | 5.21 | 5.22 | 51.42 | 51.57 | 1:42.99 |
| 10 | Reich/ Gnägi / Ndiaye / Eichenberger | SUI | 16 | 5.22 | 5.22 | 51.58 | 51.61 | 1:43.19 |
| 11 | Prochazka / Jindra / Havelka / Petrikovic | CZE | 13 | 5.21 | 5.28 | 51.50 | 51.77 | 1:43.27 |
| 12 | Baird / Butterworth / Cartagena / Williams | GBR | 21 | 5.22 | 5.21 | 51.57 | 51.75 | 1:43.32 |
| 13 | Chi / Ding / Zhang / Sun | CHN | 14 | 5.16 | 5.19 | 51.58 | 51.80 | 1:43.38 |
| 14 | Bollmann / Engelhardt / Hempel / Barchewitz | GER | 10 | 5.27 | 5.25 | 51.77 | 51.79 | 1:43.56 |
| 15 | Scherrer / Grünniger / Leutwyler / Wey | SUI | 15 | 5.37 | 5.35 | 51.85 | 52.02 | 1:43.87 |
| 16 | Baechler / Flaven / Novakovic / Alais | FRA | 3 | 5.39 | 5.39 | 51.83 | 52.08 | 1:43.91 |
| 17 | Verginer / Storti / Obou / Lambrughi | ITA | 17 | 5.32 | 5.38 | 52.10 | 52.30 | 1:44.40 |
| 18 | Brown / John / Williams / John | TTO | 18 | 5.33 | 5.35 | 52.09 | 52.35 | 1:44.44 |
| 19 | Zakrzewski / Sosna / Boinski / Sarnecki | POL | 20 | 5.77 | 5.66 | 53.29 | 53.01 | 1:46.30 |
| 20 | Silic / Rusnjak / Zelic / Zlatnar | CRO | 19 | 5.83 | 5.84 | 53.13 | 53.35 | 1:46.48 |
| 21 | Bangiev / Bryer / Parizov / Yosifov | BUL | 2 | 8.03 | 60.47 |