The German bobsleigh drivers around two-time world champion Francesco Friedrich still have some start-up difficulties in the Olympic winter. Also at the second World Cup of the season in Lake Placid/USA, Friedrich (Oberbärenburg) with his coach Martin Grothkopp clearly missed the podium places in his special discipline of two-man bobsleigh in ninth place.
Already on Thursday the 27-year-old, who had never been worse than second last winter with the small sled, had occupied this rank.
Johannes Lochner from Stuttgart, who together with Friedrich, the current world champion in the four-man team, finished sixth with Christopher Weber on the brakes, ensuring the best result from a German point of view. Friedrich’s club mate Nico Walther was on the day after his first World Cup victory in the two-man competition with Kevin Kuske as Friedrich Neunter. The victory went to the US duo Codie Bascue/Sam McGuffie.
About three months before the Winter Games in Pyeongchang/South Korea (9. till 25. Feb. 2018), however, a bumpy start to the season at the Bobsleigh and Sleigh Federation for Germany (BSD) has been taken into account:”The fast and dangerous tracks in North America are all about getting through safely with people and equipment,”said national coach René Spies in the SID interview. The overseas World Cups in Lake Placid and Park City/Utah (17th/18th place) are held in Lake Placid. November) and in the Canadian Whistler (24/25 November). November) are officially used to search for forms, all plans are focused on the climax in East Asia.
However, the Germans had rushed from success to success last winter: Friedrich won his fourth World Championship title in a row in the two-man championship at the Heim-WM at Königssee and also secured the overall World Cup in this discipline. At the four-man World Championships, Walther was the third to complete the all-German podium behind simultaneous champions Friedrich and Lochner.
The BSD in Pyeongchang hopes for the rehabilitation of the disappointing “zero number” of Sochi. With regard to the material, Spies is convinced that the company is better positioned than in 2014. This is mainly due to the fact that the federation continues to rely on an unusual parallel programme: Friedrich and Lochner are on the move with sledges of the Austrian manufacturer Hannes Wallner, the World Cup third Walther and the German women rely on Bobs of the regular equipment supplier FES.
Exceptionally, two two two-man bobsleigh World Cups took place in Lake Placid. Due to the relatively high temperatures of the previous days, the 1980 Olympic ice rink had not reached the hardness required to ensure regular conditions for a four-man bobsleigh competition. In Park City next week, two decisions with the big sled will be on the agenda.