From Sigulda, LAT
(January 2, 2022) – The losing streak for Francesco Friedrich stopped at one race. The German pilot was challenged by a very gamey British squad but in the end he was able to find his way back to the top of the World Cup podium.
On the strength of the two fastest pushes with Thorsten Margis, Friedrich opened up a .06 lead over Great Britain’s Brad Hall. Hall and Nick Gleeson pushed a tick quicker on their second run, and Hall put down a burner of a run. Friedrich was able to match that second run time, though, to win gold by the first heat’s .06 seconds, with Hall winning silver for the second straight day.
The gold for Friedrich was his 60th between two-man and four-man bobsled. Of those 60 gold medals, 42 have come in two-man bobsled. For Hall, the silver was his third in two-man bobsled, and his second straight.
“Today was different conditions than yesterday. We made some mistakes yesterday and had to clean those up,” Friedrich told IBSF TV. “We’re happy today, we had a good race with Brad Hall. And we’re happy to see the Latvians on the podium on their home track, too.”
Oskars Kibermanis won bronze on his home ice in Sigulda in what was a tight race for the final medal spot. His second run moved him up from fifth, past Simon Friedli and Benjamin Maier, who were third and fourth going into the second heat.
Maier ended up holding onto his fourth place spot, just .05 out of the medals and only .03 ahead of Frieldi.
South Korea’s Yunjong Won was the big mover of the race, jumping from tenth in the first heat to finish sixth.
Codie Bascue led the way for the United States with a tie for tenth place with Germany’s Christoph Hafer. The tenth place finish for Bascue was his best finish since the season opening races in Igls. Teammate Hunter Church moved up from 18th in the first heat to finish 16th.
Justin Kripps couldn’t match his speed from Saturday and finished eighth in the lone Canadian entry.
Friedrich leads the World Cup standings with two races to go. Rostislav Gaitiukevich is second, Justin Kripps third, with Johannes Lochner and Brad Hall rounding out the top five.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Freidrich / Margis | GER | 11 | 4.89 | 4.88 | 49.46 | 49.70 | 1:39.16 |
| 2 | Hall / Gleeson | GBR | 7 | 4.94 | 4.91 | 49.52 | 49.70 | 1:39.22 |
| 3 | Kibermanis / Miknis | LAT | 15 | 4.93 | 4.92 | 49.83 | 49.88 | 1:39.71 |
| 4 | Maier / Huber | AUT | 8 | 4.99 | 4.97 | 49.81 | 49.95 | 1:39.76 |
| 5 | Friedli / Badraun | SUI | 9 | 4.94 | 4.94 | 49.76 | 50.03 | 1:39.79 |
| 6 | Won / Kim | KOR | 17 | 5.02 | 5.00 | 49.93 | 49.89 | 1:39.82 |
| 7 | Gaitiukevich / Efimov | RUS | 13 | 4.91 | 4.90 | 49.89 | 49.94 | 1:39.83 |
| 8 | Kripps / Stones | CAN | 6 | 4.91 | 4.91 | 49.91 | 49.98 | 1:39.89 |
| 9 | Lochner / Bruckert | GER | 10 | 4.94 | 4.94 | 49.92 | 50.05 | 1:39.97 |
| 10 | Bascue / Abdul-Saboor | USA | 2 | 4.97 | 4.97 | 50.04 | 50.00 | 1:40.04 |
| 10 | Hafer / Frytz | GER | 4 | 5.09 | 5.05 | 49.84 | 50.20 | 1:40.04 |
| 12 | Heinrich / Hauterville | FRA | 5 | 5.04 | 5.00 | 50.04 | 50.01 | 1:40.05 |
| 13 | Vogt / Michel | SUI | 12 | 4.98 | 4.99 | 50.13 | 50.02 | 1:40.15 |
| 14 | Andrianov / Kondratenko | RUS | 18 | 5.00 | 5.00 | 50.14 | 50.11 | 1:40.25 |
| 15 | Li / Ding | CHN | 3 | 5.03 | 5.02 | 50.15 | 50.19 | 1:40.34 |
| 16 | Church / Williamson | USA | 20 | 5.05 | 5.05 | 50.42 | 50.23 | 1:40.65 |
| 17 | Baumgartner / Fantazzini | ITA | 19 | 5.12 | 5.12 | 50.33 | 50.34 | 1:40.67 |
| 18 | Sun / Shi | CHN | 16 | 5.02 | 5.01 | 50.40 | 50.40 | 1:40.80 |
| 19 | de Bruin / Dumas | NED | 21 | 5.13 | 5.13 | 50.60 | 50.30 | 1:40.90 |
| 20 | Tentea / Dobre | ROU | 14 | 5.66 | 5.67 | 51.27 | 51.26 | 1:42.53 |
| 21 | Treichl / Eckschlager | AUT | 1 | 5.61 | 51.31 |
