Johannes Lochner finishes second in Innsbruck ahead of Brad Hall in third place
Innsbruck (RWH) Olympic and World Champion Francesco Friedrich (GER) started the 2-man bobsleigh season in the BMW IBSF World Cup with World Cup victory number 38. With push athlete Alexander Schüller, Friedrich, who also won the European Championship title and the overall World Cup title last winter, won the first race of the Olympic season in Innsbruck (AUT). Highlight of the winter are the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.
Second place went to World Cup runner-up Johannes Lochner with Florian Bauer (GER, 0.47 seconds back). Brad Hall/Greg Cackett (GBR, 0.63 seconds back) came in third. For the British duo it was the second podium after almost two years: In January 2020 Hall/Cackett finished the Innsbruck World Cup in second place.
One hundredth of a second behind the Brits, Olympic champion Justin Kripps from Canada came fourth with Cameron Stones in Innsbruck.
Codie Bascue (USA) missed out on his first 2-man bobsleigh podium in four years at the World Cup opener in Innsbruck. He had won the race in Lake Placid in November 2017 and was also the last US pilot on the podium. In Innsbruck, Bascue and Carlo Valdes were in second place after the first race run, but fell back to fifth in the second run.
27 sleds from 19 nations were present at the 2-man bobsleigh opener of the BMW IBSF World Cup. Athletes from seven nations were represented in the top ten in Innsbruck.
In the overall ranking for the BMW IBSF World Cup 2021/2022 Francesco Friedrich (GER, 225 points) is leading ahead of Johannes Lochner (GER, 210) and Brad Hall (GBR, 200).
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
