From Winterberg, GER
Feb. 22, 2020 – There was no doubting that Francesco Friedrich was going to be the man to beat in Altenberg. Even then, nobody expected as dominating of a performance as the German put down on Saturday.
Friedrich destroyed his old track record by .48 in the first heat and paired it with a 54 on his way to a .94 second lead over teammate Nico Walther. His lead over everyone else is over a second.
Barring something extraordinary happening to Friedrich, the battle for the medals is from silver on back. Nico Walther finished the first heat in fourth from the 20th starting position, and then improved again up to second from fourth in the second heat.
Like Walther, Johannes Lochner started well out of the top few starting spots but had a great pair of runs to put himself in medal contention. Lochner sits third after two runs, .15 behind Walther and just .01 ahead of teammate Richard Oelsner in fourth.
Oskars Kibermanis is the first non-German, currently in fifth. He came into the second heat in second, but couldn’t find any speed in his sled in the second heat. That said, he’s only .03 out of medal position and .18 out of silver.
Mihai Tentea, the European Cup 2-man champion, rounds out the top six after two heats in sixth place.
Canada’s Justin Kripps will start the third heat of the 2-man World Championships in ninth after a skiddy second run dropped him from a tie for sixth with Tentea. Despite falling out of the top six, Kripps is only .14 out of that sixth position.
Hunter Church will go into the third heat in 20th place, just .01 behind Patrick Baumgartner of Italy.. Church is making his first appearance on the challenging Altenberg track.
Great Britain’s men couldn’t quite find their rhythm in the first day of their race. After two runs, Brad Hall sits 17th, while Lamin Deen sits 25th going into the third heat.
Rostislav Gaitiukevich crashed hard on his second run and will likely not start in the third heat.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Friedrich / Margis | GER | 4 | 5.14 | 5.11 | 54.00 | 54.09 | 1:48.09 |
| 2 | Walther / Franke | GER | 20 | 5.25 | 5.21 | 54.54 | 54.49 | 1:49.03 |
| 3 | Lochner / Weber | GER | 22 | 5.21 | 5.16 | 54.59 | 54.59 | 1:49.18 |
| 4 | Oelsner / Schwenzfeier | GER | 10 | 5.19 | 5.22 | 54.52 | 54.67 | 1:49.19 |
| 5 | Kibermanis / Miknis | LAT | 5 | 5.12 | 5.11 | 54.49 | 54.72 | 1:49.21 |
| 6 | Tentea / Daroczi | ROU | 2 | 5.35 | 5.30 | 54.60 | 54.86 | 1:49.46 |
| 7 | Maier / Sammer | AUT | 18 | 5.33 | 5.28 | 54.91 | 54.61 | 1:49.52 |
| 8 | Vogt / Michel | SUI | 7 | 5.28 | 5.30 | 54.77 | 54.78 | 1:49.55 |
| 9 | Kripps / Stones | CAN | 6 | 5.25 | 5.25 | 54.60 | 55.00 | 1:49.60 |
| 10 | Dvorak / Nosek | CZE | 16 | 5.22 | 5.23 | 54.98 | 54.81 | 1:49.79 |
| 11 | Stulnev / Malykh | RUS | 12 | 5.34 | 5.36 | 54.91 | 54.92 | 1:49.83 |
| 12 | Heinrich / Hauterville | FRA | 9 | 5.27 | 5.30 | 54.90 | 54.93 | 1:49.83 |
| 13 | Friedli / Jones | SUI | 15 | 5.24 | 5.22 | 54.73 | 55.14 | 1:49.87 |
| 14 | Melbardis / Dambis | LAt | 17 | 5.32 | 5.30 | 55.05 | 54.84 | 1:49.89 |
| 15 | Won / Chae | KOR | 11 | 5.28 | 5.30 | 54.95 | 55.02 | 1:49.97 |
| 16 | Berzins / Springis | LAT | 3 | 5.20 | 5.21 | 54.97 | 55.06 | 1:50.03 |
| 17 | Hall / Cackett | GBR | 8 | 5.26 | 5.29 | 54.92 | 55.20 | 1:50.12 |
| 18 | Treichl / Huber | AUT | 23 | 5.36 | 5.35 | 55.18 | 55.04 | 1:50.22 |
| 19 | Baumgartner / Ughi | ITA | 24 | 5.44 | 5.47 | 55.30 | 55.44 | 1:50.74 |
| 20 | Church / Williamson | USA | 13 | 5.35 | 5.40 | 55.25 | 55.50 | 1:50.75 |
| 21 | Li / Shi | CHN | 21 | 5.33 | 5.35 | 55.47 | 55.72 | 1:51.19 |
| 22 | de Bruin / Veenker | NED | 19 | 5.40 | 5.41 | 55.49 | 55.83 | 1:51.32 |
| 23 | Jin / Wu | CHN | 27 | 5.32 | 5.33 | 55.57 | 55.75 | 1:51.32 |
| 24 | Shinohara / Kaneko | JPN | 1 | 5.35 | 5.37 | 55.52 | 56.03 | 1:51.55 |
| 25 | Deen / Simons | GBR | 26 | 5.45 | 5.48 | 55.85 | 56.07 | 1:51.92 |
| 26 | Variola / Verginer | ITA | 25 | 5.34 | 5.36 | 56.85 | 56.23 | 1:53.08 |
| 27 | Gaitiukevich / Samitov | RUS | 14 | 5.22 | 5.24 | 55.23 | 60.30 | 1:55.53 |
