Justin Kripps finishes second ahead of Nico Walther
Königssee (RWH) At the start of the second half of the 2-man bobsleigh World Cup season, the defending title holder Francesco Friedrich (GER) is already on the right track when it comes to retaining his title. With his brake man Thorsten Margis, the Olympic and World Champion celebrated his fourth successive win at the fifth of this season’s eight races, which was held in Königssee (GER).
Friedrich/Margis’ lead over Canada’s Justin Kripps and Cameron Stones ended up at 0.51 seconds. In 2018, Friedrich and Kripps tied in the 2-man bobsleigh in PyeongChang (KOR) to become Olympic Champions. Third place in Königssee went to Nico Walther with Malte Schwenzfeier (GER, 0.53 seconds back). After missing the first two races of the winter due to injury, this was Walter’s first podium finish of the season in 2-man bobsleigh.
Making his World Cup debut in the pilot’s seat, Switzerland’s Simon Friedli finished eighth in Königssee with his brake athlete Gregory Jones. The BMW IBSF World Cup race in Königssee also saw the U23 European Champion Mihai Tentea and Cyprian Daroczi achieve the pilot’s first top-ten finish in ninth place.
Ahead of the next race, there is no threat to the defending title holder Francesco Friedrich’s (GER, 1110 points) position at the top the overall standings for the 2019/2020 BMW IBSF World Cup. At the very least, the event in St. Moritz will give him an unassailable lead of over 225 points. Justin Kripps (CAN, 882 points) is currently second overall ahead of Michael Vogt (SUI, 864). The Swiss pilot finished sixth in Königssee.
Further information, the World Cup results and the latest overall standings are available at ibsf.org. ©RWH2020
