Innsbruck (RWH) Two-man bobsleigh World Champion Francesco Friedrich of Germany is also on course for gold in the four-seater. After two of the four runs in the BMW IBSF World Championships 2016 in Innsbruck (AUT), the 2015 European bronze medallist and his crew of Candy Bauer, Gregor Bermbach and Thorsten Margis have a 0.27 second lead on the field of thirty sleds, in which the top six places are currently very close together. Nico Walther, Marko Hübenbecker, Christian Poser and Eric Franke (GER) are in second, followed by Alexander Kasjanov, Aleksei Pushkarev, Ilvir Huzin and Aleksey Zaytsev (RUS, 0,28 seconds behind), Lemin Deen, Ben Simons, Bruce Tasker and Joel Fearon (GBR, 0.30 seconds behind), Rico Peter, Bror van der Zijde, Thomas Amrhein and Simon Friedli (SUI, 0.32 seconds behind) and defending World Champion Maximilian Arndt with his crew of Kevin Korona, Martin Putze and Ben Heber (GER, 0.33 seconds behind), a total of just 0.05 seconds separating third and sixth place. Even the four-man teams piloted by Latvian Olympic silver medallist Oskars Melbardis (0.41 seconds behind), Johannes Lochner (GER, 0.45 seconds behind) and local hero Benjamin Maier (AUT, 0.49 seconds behind), who are currently ranked seventh to ninth, are still within reach of a World Championship medal.
Runs three and four in the four-man bobsleigh will close the World Championships on Sunday, 21 February at 3.00 pm and 4.30 pm CET.
Complete results lists showing all race times and overall times in the BMW IBSF World Championships 2016 in Innsbruck can be found at ibsf.org, via Twitter (@IBSFsliding), on the official IBSF website, and on the IBSF Facebook group.©RWH2015-2016

Quotes

Francesco Friedrich (GER, fourth in 2015 World Championships, third in 2015 European Championships)
“Neither of my two runs today could be called a masterpiece. But to be in the lead at half-time, particularly in Innsbruck, is saying something.”

Nico Walther (GER, second in 2015 World Championships, overall fourth in 2015 World Cup)
“What a close race! But tomorrow we’ll be starting from scratch. Apparently it’s going to warm up and stop snowing.”

Alexander Kasjanov (RUS, fourth in 2014 Olympics, second in 2015 European Championships)
“I’m not going to say anything yet – let’s wait and see what tomorrow brings.”