Olympic Champions Friedrich and Kripps in second and third
Lake Placid (RWH): Two Olympic Champions on the World Cup podium – and yet gold goes to the Team World Champion: Johannes Lochner (GER) has celebrated his third ever World Cup victory in the 2-man bobsleigh at the opening race to the 2019/2020 BMW IBSF World Cup season. Racing with his brakeman Florian Bauer, Lochner secured a 0.08-second lead over second place after two heats in Lake Placid (USA).
The runner-up spot went to the Olympic Champion and defending World Cup holder Francesco Friedrich of Germany with his brakeman Thorsten Margis. Prior to the season opener, Friedrich had won every race since January 2018, including nine World Cup races, two European Championships, one World Championships and the Olympic Winter Games.
Justin Kripps (CAN) – who tied with Friedrich in PyeongChang to share the title of Olympic Champion in the 2-man bobsleigh – finished third in Lake Placid with Ben Coakwell, 0.26 seconds back.
Local hero Hunter Church (USA), racing with Kristopher Horn, finished the first heat in Lake Placid in a surprising second place, before ultimately celebrating his best BMW IBSF World Cup result to date in fifth place. The season opener was only Church's third ever 2-man bobsleigh World Cup race.
Following the first of eight races in the 2019/2020 BMW IBSF World Cup, the overall standings are led by Johannes Lochner (GER, 225 points) ahead of Francesco Friedrich (GER, 210) and Justin Kripps (CAN, 200).
Further information, the World Cup results and the latest overall standings are available at ibsf.org. ©RWH2019
