Kripps second in overall World Cup, Lochner and Gaitiukevich with silver and bronze
St. Moritz (RWH) Francesco Friedrich (GER) is the 2022 European Champion and 2021/2022 overall World Cup winner in 2-man bobsleigh. At the final of the BMW IBSF World Cup in St. Moritz (SUI), the Olympic and World Champion also secured his sixth title with his sixth victory of the season in the simultaneous European Championship classification of the race for the athletes from Europe.
With push athlete Thorsten Margis, Friedrich was 0.19 seconds ahead of Justin Kripps/Cameron Stones (CAN) on the Olympia Bobrun St. Moritz-Celerina. The Canadians set a season track record (1:05.80 minutes) in the second race run and celebrated their best result of the season after three third places. At the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, Friedrich and Kripps had tied for Olympic gold.
Johannes Lochner/Florian Bauer (GER, 0.36 seconds back) finished third in the World Cup in St. Moritz.
As the Canadian duo Kripps/Stones did not count for the European ranking, Lochner/Bauer secured silver in the 2022 European Championships in 2-man bobsleigh. Bronze went to Rostislav Gaitiukevich/Mikhail Mordasov (RUS). Gaitiukevich, the 2020 European Junior Champion, set the best start time in both races.
Overall winner of the BMW IBSF World Cup in the 2021/2022 Olympic season is Francesco Friedrich (GER, 1703 points) for the fifth time. Justin Kripps (CAN, 1530) moved up to second place in the last race. Rostislav Gaitiukevich (RUS, 1521) in third place secured one of the crystal ball trophies for the best pilots of the World Cup winter for the first time.
For more detailed information including athlete profiles and results please visit ibsf.org. Photos for editorial use can be found at Flickr. ©RWH2022
Photos: IBSF / Viesturs Lacis
