Friedrich defends World Cup lead with second place, Kibermanis in third
St. Moritz (RWH) Johannes Lochner (GER) has won the 2-man bobsleigh race at the BMW IBSF World Cup in St. Moritz. With his brake man Christopher Weber, Lochner laid the foundations for his win by setting the best time during heat one. In the second heat, the duo maintained the lead, finishing 0.21 seconds ahead of the Olympic and World Champion and defending World Cup title holder Francesco Friedrich (GER) with Alexander Schueller.
However, Lochner's performance in St. Moritz was about more than just World Cup points: According to an announcement made by the German bobsleigh coach Rene Spies before the race, a top-three finish was the only way that Lochner could secure his place in the 2-man event at the World Championships.
Third place on the St. Moritz-Celerina Olympia Bobrun went to Oskars Kibermanis/Matiss Miknis (LAT, 0.28 seconds back). This marked the Latvians’ second podium finish this winter.
In seventh place, Ivo de Bruin/Dennis Veenker (NED) celebrated their best result of the season to date in St. Moritz.
The Chinese pairing of Chunjian Li/Hao Shi finished tenth in St. Moritz for their first ever top-ten finish.
The best result for the World Cup hosts Switzerland went to Michael Kuonen/Marco Tanner. Kuonen, who finished second in the 2017 European Championships as the brake man for Clemens Bracher, only just missed out on the top ten during his first World Cup appearance as a pilot and finished eleventh.
In the overall standings for the 2019/2020 BMW IBSF World Cup, Francesco Friedrich (GER, 1320 points) remains in the lead ahead of the final stop on the World Cup tour. Races number seven and eight are set to take place in Sigulda (LAT, 14–16 February). Friedrich was even able to further extend his lead over second-place Justin Kripps (CAN, 1066 points), who finished fifth in St. Moritz. Oskars Kibermanis (LAT, 1028) is now third overall.
Further information, the World Cup results and the latest overall standings are available at ibsf.org. ©RWH2020
