From Yanqing, CHN
(October 25, 2021) – Francesco Friedrich edged out Great Britain’s Brad Hall for gold in the first IBSF sanctioned two-man race on the 2022 Olympic sliding track.
The defending Olympic champion set the fast time of the race in the first heat, but only carried a .03 advantage over teammate Johannes Lochner into the second run, with Hall sitting only .04 out of the lead in third.
On the second run it was Russian Rostislav Gaitiukevich who was quickest. The breakout slider from the 2020/2021 season’s second run put him in the lead with only four sleds to go. Canadian Justin Kripps was next, and his second trip down was just .08 off the second run time set by Gaitiukevich but only good enough for fifth fastest of the run. Hall was next and was only .07 off of the Russian’s pace, enough to put him into the lead with only Lochner and Friedrich to go.
Johannes Lochner struggled on his second run as he set the tenth quickest time of the heat and fell behind Kripps, though he secured a top five finish.
That left the winningest bobsledder in history, Francesco Friedrich. The co-Olympic champion (with Kripps) put down a second consistent run, enough to edge out the Brit by just .07 to take yet another gold medal. Hall finished second, .07 back, while Gaitiukevich finished third, only .09 back.
The in for Friedrich also gave Germany a sweep of the day’s events, with the Germans winning the men’s and women’s skeleton events as well as the monobob race earlier in the day.
Fourth place in the race went to Kripps, who finished only .06 off the podium and .15 behind Friedrich, while Lochner finished fifth and Germany’s Christoph Hafer sixth.
Codie Bascue finished 13th for the United States, one spot ahead of Christopher Spring in 14th. The two were separated by .01. Taylor Austin, the third Canadian in the field, finished 19th.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Friedrich / Rödiger | GER | 5 | 5.09 | 5.11 | 60.27 | 60.53 | 2:00.80 |
| 2 | Hall / Cackett | GBR | 11 | 4.99 | 5.02 | 60.31 | 60.56 | 2:00.87 |
| 3 | Gaitiukevich / Mordasov | RUS | 14 | 4.92 | 4.95 | 60.40 | 60.49 | 2:00.89 |
| 4 | Kripps / Stones | CAN | 13 | 5.01 | 5.04 | 60.38 | 60.57 | 2:00.95 |
| 5 | Lochner / Bauer | GER | 17 | 5.03 | 5.06 | 60.30 | 60.78 | 2:01.08 |
| 6 | Hafer / Hammers | GER | 19 | 5.15 | 5.16 | 60.58 | 60.62 | 2:01.20 |
| 7 | Kibermanis / Miknis | LAT | 12 | 4.98 | 4.99 | 60.74 | 60.50 | 2:01.24 |
| 8 | Won / Kim | KOR | 7 | 5.03 | 5.05 | 60.50 | 60.76 | 2:01.26 |
| 9 | Tentea / Daroczi | ROU | 10 | 5.14 | 5.13 | 60.60 | 60.74 | 2:01.34 |
| 10 | Vogt / Michel | SUI | 4 | 5.03 | 5.04 | 60.51 | 60.87 | 2:01.38 |
| 11 | Maier / Stepan | AUT | 15 | 5.09 | 5.11 | 60.80 | 60.86 | 2:01.66 |
| 11 | Friedli / Haas | SUI | 9 | 5.05 | 5.08 | 60.73 | 60.93 | 2:01.66 |
| 13 | Bascue / Niederhofer | USA | 22 | 5.09 | 5.16 | 60.79 | 60.92 | 2:01.71 |
| 14 | Spring / Evelyn (1) Giguere (2) | CAN | 21 | 5.07 | 5.09 | 60.88 | 60.84 | 2:01.72 |
| 15 | Kaufmanis / Nemme | LAT | 20 | 5.00 | 4.99 | 61.07 | 60.76 | 2:01.83 |
| 16 | Heinrich / Lefebvre | FRA | 6 | 5.12 | 6.09 | 60.89 | 61.01 | 2:01.90 |
| 17 | Dvorak / Sindelar | CZE | 8 | 5.07 | 5.11 | 61.53 | 60.81 | 2:02.34 |
| 17 | Andrianov / Samitov | RUS | 25 | 5.17 | 5.18 | 61.36 | 60.98 | 2:02.34 |
| 19 | Austin / Sunderland | CAN | 16 | 5.11 | 5.15 | 61.37 | 60.99 | 2:02.36 |
| 20 | Shinohara / Murakami | JPN | 20 | 5.21 | 5.21 | 61.12 | 61.27 | 2:02.39 |
| 21 | Variola / Castellazzi | ITA | 23 | 5.14 | 5.13 | 61.09 | 61.33 | 2:02.42 |
| 22 | Baumgartner / Ughi | ITA | 1 | 5.24 | 5.25 | 61.01 | 61.50 | 2:02.51 |
| 23 | Suk / Kim | KOR | 18 | 5.11 | 5.15 | 61.32 | 61.25 | 2:02.57 |
| 24 | Cipulis / Kleinbergs | LAT | 24 | 5.03 | 5.05 | 61.09 | 61.51 | 2:02.60 |
| 25 | Treichl / Kompain | AUT | 3 | 5.21 | 5.24 | 61.35 | 61.72 | 2:03.07 |
