From Lillehammer, NOR
(February 8, 2025) – Francesco Friedrich is one race away from his seventh two-man bobsled World Cup title after beating out teammate Johannes Lochner for gold in Lillehammer.
The race was tight after the first heat. Friedrich and Alexander Schüller were up just .07 ahead of Lochner and Georg Fleischhauer going into the second heat, with Great Britain’s Brad Hall and Taylor Lawrence back in third.
In the second heat, Hall held off Adam and Issam Ammour by just .02 to slide into the medals. Lochner was next, and put down a run that was a tick slower than his first despite he and Fleischhauer matching their first run start time. It was still plenty enough to stay ahead of the Brits and guarantee at least a silver medal.
Friedrich was the final pilot off the top. As he and Schüller had in the first heat, they matched Lochner and Fleischhauer’s start, leaving it up to Friedrich to out-drive Lochner.
It was close early, but despite what looked like a relatively bumpy ride by the German legend, Friedrich once again outslid Lochner by .07 to win by .14 over his teammate, with Lochner silver.
The win was number 52 in two-man World Cup action for Friedrich, while the silver was World Cup two-man medal number 48 for Lochner.
Hall’s bronze was his tenth two-man medal in the World Cup.
Despite the pressure the Ammour brothers put on Hall, they finished fourth. Michael Vogt and Andreas Haas were a hundredth quicker off the top and three hundredths quicker at the bottom on their way to a fifth place finish.
The United States’ Frank Del Duca and Manteo Mitchell moved up from seventh in the first heat to sixth place on the track he finished fifth on a year ago.
The race doubled as the European Championships, with Friedrich, Lochner, and Hall winning gold, silver, and bronze.
Pat Norton and Mike Evelyn were the top Candian team in 17th place in their first visit to Lillehammer. Taylor Austin and Cyrus Gray finished 19th, up from 20th in the first heat, while Jay Dearborn and Kenny-Luketa M’Pindou finished 24th in Dearborn’s first World Cup start.
Adam Biard and Ollie Butterworth moved up from 15th to a tie for 11th, a few spots ahead of Romain Heinrich and Dorian Hauterville in 14th.
With one race remaining in the 2024/2025 IBSF World Cup two-man bobsled season, Francesco Friedrich holds a 30 point advantage over Johannes Lochner. Brad Hall is solidly in third, with Patrick Baumgartner 24 points ahead of Frank Del Duca for fourth.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Friedrich / Schüller | GER | 5 | 4.97 | 4.97 | 50.50 | 50.65 | 1:41.15 |
| 2 | Lochner / Fleischhauer | GER | 12 | 4.97 | 4.97 | 50.57 | 50.72 | 1:41.29 |
| 3 | Hall / Lawrence | GBR | 4 | 5.00 | 5.01 | 50.76 | 50.87 | 1:41.63 |
| 4 | Ammour / Ammour | GER | 10 | 5.01 | 4.99 | 50.85 | 50.80 | 1:41.65 |
| 5 | Vogt / Haas | SUI | 16 | 5.11 | 5.10 | 50.96 | 50.93 | 1:41.89 |
| 6 | Del Duca / Mitchell | USA | 13 | 5.11 | 5.08 | 51.06 | 51.11 | 1:42.17 |
| 7 | Rohner / Jones | SUI | 8 | 5.08 | 5.09 | 51.05 | 51.24 | 1:42.29 |
| 8 | Kim / Kim | KOR | 14 | 5.02 | 5.03 | 51.25 | 51.19 | 1:42.44 |
| 9 | Baumgartner / Mircea | ITA | 6 | 5.11 | 5.11 | 51.23 | 51.22 | 1:42.45 |
| 10 | Follador / Rolli (1) / Julliard (2) | SUI | 7 | 5.16 | 5.18 | 51.23 | 51.31 | 1:42.54 |
| 11 | Baird / Butterworth | GBR | 17 | 5.13 | 5.14 | 51.36 | 51.31 | 1:42.67 |
| 11 | Tentea / Iordache | ROU | 1 | 5.12 | 5.12 | 51.21 | 51.46 | 1:42.67 |
| 13 | Sun / Zhen | CHN | 3 | 5.07 | 5.10 | 51.18 | 51.54 | 1:42.72 |
| 14 | Vain / Riou | MON | 15 | 5.12 | 5.15 | 51.21 | 51.58 | 1:42.79 |
| 15 | Heinrich / Hauterville | FRA | 24 | 5.13 | 5.14 | 51.47 | 51.33 | 1:42.80 |
| 16 | Kalenda / Miknis | LAT | 9 | 5.02 | 5.02 | 51.43 | 51.48 | 1:42.91 |
| 17 | Norton / Evelyn | CAN | 2 | 5.13 | 5.15 | 51.27 | 51.70 | 1:42.97 |
| 18 | Li / Shi | CHN | 11 | 5.15 | 5.17 | 51.51 | 51.61 | 1:43.12 |
| 19 | Austin / Gray | CAN | 19 | 5.21 | 5.25 | 51.67 | 51.74 | 1:43.41 |
| 20 | Zakrzewski / Sarnecki | POL | 23 | 5.17 | 5.18 | 51.57 | 58.04 | 1:49.61 |
| 21 | Nica / Calancea | ROU | 20 | 5.21 | 51.68 | |||
| 22 | Kranz / Lenherr | LIE | 18 | 5.32 | 51.80 | |||
| 23 | Brown / Harris | TTO | 21 | 5.23 | 51.80 | |||
| 24 | Dearborn / M’Pindou | CAN | 25 | 5.18 | 52.00 | |||
| 25 | Edelman / Kirejevs | ISR | 22 | 5.23 | 52.39 |