European Champion Lochner second in La Plagne ahead of Oskars Kibermanis
La Plagne (RWH): The World Champion Francesco Friedrich (GER) celebrated his second win of the season in the 4-man bobsleigh at the BMW IBSF World Cup in La Plagne (FRA).
With his brake crew of Candy Bauer, Alexander Schueller and Thorsten Margis, the defending World Cup title holder achieved the best start and run times in both heats. Friedrich won with a 0.21-second lead over the team belonging to European Champion Johannes Lochner (GER), who was racing with Florian Bauer, Christopher Weber and Christian Rasp.
Third place in La Plagne went to Oskars Kibermanis/Lauris Kaufmanis/Arvis Vilkaste/Matiss Miknis. The Olympic silver medallist Nico Walther (GER) and his team of Paul Krenz, Kevin Korona and Eric Franke missed the start of the season due to injury and only just missed out on the third podium place in his third race to finish fourth.
Following his win in La Plagne, the Olympic Champion Francesco Friedrich (GER, 1052 points) has now extended his lead in the overall standings for the 2019/2020 BMW IBSF World Cup. After the fifth of eight races this season, Johannes Lochner (GER, 1029) is in second. Justin Kripps, who won the two opening World Cup races in Lake Placid, finished fifth in La Plagne to stay in third place overall.
Further information, the World Cup results and the latest overall standings are available at ibsf.org. ©RWH2020
