Defending champion Melbardis second, Yunjong Won secures first podium finish for Korea

Altenberg (RWH) Francesco Friedrich of Germany was the winner of the season opener at the BMW IBSF World Cup 2015/2016. The bobsleigh racer and his brakeman Thorsten Margis beat the defending two-man bobsleigh World Cup winner Oskars Melbardis with Daumants Dreiskens (LAT, 0.46 seconds behind) into second place in Altenberg (GER). Yunjong Won and Youngwoo Seo of Korea made bobsleigh history in Altenberg by securing third place (0.48 seconds behind), celebrating the first podium finish for the host nation of the 2018 Winter Olympics. Overall, the top ten at the Altenberg World Cup race featured athletes from seven different countries.
Following the first of the season’s eight races in the BMW IBSF World Cup 2015/2016, the overall standings are led by Francesco Friedrich (GER, 225 points) followed by Oskars Melbardis (LAT, 210) and Yunjong Won (KOR, 200).
Complete results lists showing all race times, overall times and the latest World Cup standings can be found at www.ibfs.org, via Twitter (@IBSFsliding), on the official IBSF page, and on the IBSF Facebook group.

Quotes:
Francesco Friedrich (GER, World Champion 2013 and 2015, European Champion 2015)
“We couldn’t have asked for a better start. Everything just went perfectly. The conditions were fair. We were definitely on the right track.”

Oskars Melbardis (LAT, European silver medallist 2015, overall World Cup winner 2014/2015)
“It was a good start to our season. I am really happy with second place, particularly in Altenberg.

Yunjong Won (KOR, fifth in the 2015 World Championship)
“This is an amazing and historical day for us and for Korea. We trained really hard in the run-up to the season, working on the material, with our coaches and practicing our start. Now everything has really come together.”

©RWH2015-2016