Johannes Lochner wins silver, Junior World Champion Hannighofer takes bronze
Altenberg (RWH) Francesco Friedrich/Alexander Schueller (GER) have won gold in the 2-man bobsleigh at the BMW IBSF World Championships 2021 in Altenberg (GER). With his tenth title in total at bobsleigh World Championships - seven in the 2-man and three in the 4-man - Friedrich thus replaced the previous record holder Eugenio Monti of Italy. After 55 years: Monti was the 2-man bobsleigh World Champion seven times between 1957 and 1966 and won 4-man bobsleigh gold twice.
Friedrich/Schueller were 2.05 seconds ahead after the four race runs in Altenberg - the biggest lead in 2-man bobsleigh World Championships in at least the last two decades.
As in the previous year, Johannes Lochner (GER) won silver in Altenberg, this time with Eric Franke as push athlete. Lochner, second overall in the 2020/2021 BMW IBSF World Cup, thus won World Championships silver in the 2-man bobsleigh for the fourth time after 2015, 2016 and 2020.
Junior World Champions Hans-Peter Hannighofer/Christian Roeder (GER) fought a duel with the Swiss sleds of Michael Vogt/Sandro Michel and Simon Friedli/Andreas Haas for bronze. Before the fourth and final race run in Altenberg, Hannighofer and Vogt were tied for third, Friedli followed 0.14 seconds behind. The best run of the three pilots in the final was then by the Junior World Champions: Hannighofer/Roeder (2,23 seconds back) won the bronze medal at their World Championships premiere. Friedli/Haas and Vogt/Michel missed out on the first Swiss 2-man bobsleigh medal at a World Cup since 2016 - fourth and fifth place was nevertheless the best World Cup result as pilots for both.
>> Result after race run two of four
For more detailed information including athlete profiles and results please visit ibsf.org. Photos for editorial use can be found at Flickr. ©RWH2021
Photos: IBSF / Viesturs Lacis
