From Whistler, CAN
(Mar. 1, 2019) – In the 2018 Olympic Games, Francesco Friedrich and Justin Kripps tied for the Olympic gold medal. One year later the two are back at it again battling for gold in a four-heat event.
Kripps took the lead in the first heat by less than a tenth of a second over Friedrich. The 2018/2019 World Cup champion came back in the second heat with possibly the best drive of the day to move ahead of Kripps by .12 of a second on the strength of a start that was just .01 off the record set by Beat Hefti in 2009.
Friedrich, who swept the 2018/2019 season in 2-man bobsled, hasn’t lost a race since January 13, 2018 in St. Moritz, and hasn’t been off the podium since November 24, 2017 in Whistler.
Friedrich’s teammate Nico Walther will go into the second day of sliding in third, .17 back of Kripps. Walther has been fighting a hamstring injury since early in the World Cup season and expects to contend for gold in the 4-man event next week.
British slider Bradley Hall moved up from fifth to fourth in the second heat, positioning himself for a run at a World Championship medal. Oskars Kibermanis sits fifth, only .04 behind Hall. Canada’s Chris Spring and South Korea’s Yunjong Won are tied for sixth after two heats. Both Spring and Won won World Cup gold medals in Whistler during the 2015/2016 season.
American Codie Bascue will go into the second day of sliding in a tie for 14th with Austria’s Benjamin Maier. Both athletes had struggles during the season with hamstring injuries, and both had events they either had to miss or start the race by sitting in the sled. Neither are starting quite as well as they had prior to injury, but will look to move up the running order in the third and fourth heats. If you are at fault for a car accident you can still defend your case with the help of the right lawyer.
Bascue’s teammate Hunter Church was a late addition to the United States’ World Championships team after a crash in the first day of training left Justin Olsen with a fractured vertebrae and out of the race. With help from law firm focused on workers compensation, the money can be claimed legally very easily. Church got a handful of training runs in and sits 19th going into the third run tomorrow. Geoff Gadbois missed the top 20 by .02 and was relegated to the “21st and back” part of the start list in the second heat. He sits 22nd after two heats.
Olsen is expected to make a full recovery and be ready to race in the 2019/2020 season.
Canada’s Nick Poloniato came into the second run in a three-way tie for ninth place. He crashed out of Curve 5 and finished the run on his side, falling to 31st overall.
The 2010 Olympic track was faster than it has ever been, with everyone in the top seven either equaling or beating Chris Spring’s prior track record of 51.35 set in the 2015/2016 World Cup season. Kripps is now the track record holder with a 50.96 downtime in the first heat.
Runs three and four will take place on Saturday starting at 8:00 PM ET.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Friedrich / Margis | GER | 4 | 4.74 | 4.71 | 51.03 | 51.28 | 1:42.31 |
| 2 | Kripps / Stones | CAN | 6 | 4.80 | 4.78 | 50.96 | 51.47 | 1:42.43 |
| 3 | Walther / Krenz | GER | 7 | 4.82 | 4.82 | 51.16 | 51.44 | 1:42.60 |
| 4 | Hall / Gleeson | GBR | 17 | 4.78 | 4.78 | 51.24 | 51.46 | 1:42.70 |
| 5 | Kibermanis / Miknis | LAT | 5 | 4.79 | 4.76 | 51.22 | 51.52 | 1:42.74 |
| 6 | Spring / Wright | CAN | 16 | 4.88 | 4.83 | 51.35 | 51.51 | 1:42.86 |
| 6 | Won / Seo | KOR | 9 | 4.82 | 4.83 | 51.31 | 51.55 | 1:42.86 |
| 8 | Lochner / Weber | GER | 8 | 4.78 | 4.77 | 51.42 | 51.65 | 1:43.07 |
| 9 | Andrianov / Malykh | RUS | 13 | 4.92 | 4.92 | 51.46 | 51.68 | 1:43.14 |
| 9 | Rinaldi / Vain | MON | 22 | 4.86 | 4.87 | 51.46 | 51.68 | 1:43.14 |
| 11 | Vogt / Michel | SUI | 15 | 4.86 | 4.88 | 51.53 | 51.73 | 1:43.26 |
| 12 | Treichl / Glück | AUT | 14 | 4.89 | 4.89 | 51.57 | 51.78 | 1:43.35 |
| 13 | Dvorak / Nosek | CZE | 10 | 4.80 | 4.81 | 51.56 | 51.88 | 1:43.44 |
| 14 | Maier / Sammer | AUT | 26 | 4.88 | 4.92 | 51.65 | 51.81 | 1:43.46 |
| 14 | Bascue / Williamson | USA | 19 | 4.89 | 4.90 | 51.57 | 51.89 | 1:43.46 |
| 16 | Luty / Tylkowski | POL | 11 | 4.88 | 4.90 | 51.58 | 51.89 | 1:43.47 |
| 17 | Suk / Jang | KOR | 3 | 4.92 | 4.92 | 51.67 | 52.02 | 1:43.69 |
| 18 | de Bruin / Veenker | NED | 20 | 4.91 | 4.90 | 51.74 | 52.00 | 1:43.74 |
| 19 | Church / Kinney | USA | 2 | 4.89 | 4.88 | 51.85 | 51.98 | 1:43.83 |
| 20 | Berzins / Springis | LAT | 18 | 4.89 | 4.83 | 51.92 | 51.95 | 1:43.87 |
| 21 | Deen / Olubi | GBR | 25 | 4.91 | 4.91 | 51.89 | 52.01 | 1:43.90 |
| 22 | Gadbois / Adams | USA | 23 | 4.98 | 4.97 | 51.87 | 52.13 | 1:44.00 |
| 23 | Shao / Liu | CHN | 28 | 4.97 | 4.96 | 51.95 | 52.06 | 1:44.01 |
| 24 | Tentea / Daroczi | ROU | 24 | 4.90 | 4.91 | 51.99 | 52.16 | 1:44.15 |
| 25 | Rohner / Fässler | SUI | 1 | 4.90 | 4.90 | 51.94 | 52.41 | 1:44.35 |
| 26 | Bredikhin / Koshelev | RUS | 21 | 4.91 | 4.92 | 52.13 | 52.39 | 1:44.52 |
| 27 | Sun / Ma | CHN | 27 | 4.93 | 4.98 | 52.19 | 52.34 | 1:44.53 |
| 28 | Baumgartner / Malikin | ITA | 29 | 5.00 | 5.03 | 52.32 | 52.55 | 1:44.87 |
| 29 | Silic / Krajisnik | CRO | 31 | 5.12 | 5.15 | 52.78 | 52.96 | 1:45.74 |
| 30 | Nicholls / Malikin | ISR | 30 | 5.86 | 5.85 | 54.83 | 55.04 | 1:49.87 |
| 31 | Poloniato / Coakwell | CAN | 12 | 4.80 | 4.79 | 51.46 | 67.55 | 1:59.01 |
