Olympic Champion Friedrich in close second ahead of Nico Walther
Winterberg (RWH): Johannes Lochner (GER) has retained his title as European Champion in the 4-man bobsleigh. At the BMW IBSF World Cup race in Winterberg (GER) – which also counted as the European Championships – Lochner and his team of Florian Bauer, Christopher Weber and Christian Rasp achieved the best time in heat two to secure his fourth title in the 4-man event.
Francesco Friedrich (GER), on the other hand, only just missed out on the chance to complete his collection of gold medals by a whisker. The European Championship title is the only one that the Olympic Champion, World Champion and defending World Cup title holder still needed – and 0.02 seconds were all that separated Friedrich and Candy Bauer, Alexander Schüller and Thorsten Margis from Lochner and his crew, meaning they ended up taking silver in the European Championships.
Third place in the World Cup race and European Championships in Winterberg went to Nico Walther with Paul Krenz, Kevin Korona and Eric Franke (GER, 0.22 seconds back).
Defending title holder Francesco Friedrich (GER, 827 points) climbed the points to take over the top spot in the overall standings for the 2019/2020 BMW IBSF World Cup. The winner from Winterberg Johannes Lochner (GER, 819 points) is second overall. Justin Kripps of Canada (810), who won the first two races of the season in Lake Placid (USA), finished sixth in Winterberg, putting him in third place at the mid-way point of the 4-man bobsleigh season.
Further information, the World Cup results and the latest overall standings are available at ibsf.org. ©RWH2020
