Bob:”Extremely narrow”: Walther also wins in the four-man bobsleigh

From Shadow Man to Hope: Nico Walther is still Germany’s most successful bobsleigh driver at the beginning of the Olympic winter. One week after his opening victory in the two-man race, the 27-year-old in Park City surprisingly also won the first World Cup race in the four-man team.

Last season, Walther hadn’t been able to match the performances of world champions Johannes Lochner (Stuttgart) and Francesco Friedrich (Oberbärenburg) – three months before the winter games in Pyeongchang, he outstripped them both.

“Lochner and Friedrich had to settle for places four and nine in the US state of Utah, but were not beaten: Lochner was only seven hundredths of a second behind, Friedrich was only one and a half tenths behind. The Canadians Justin Kripps (+0.03) and Chris Spring (+0.06) took second and third place.

This confirms the expectations of a very close Olympic season so far:”There are at least ten people in the group of four riding around the podium,”said Walther. National coach Rene Spies had already announced the “hardest Olympic race” in bobsleigh history before the start of the season.

Looking forward to the Winter Games in South Korea (9. till 25. Feb. 2018) Walther’s successes also provide initial answers to the material question: Walther is the only pilot in the German men’s team to rely on sleds from the original manufacturer FES, which had problems in recent years. Friedrich and Lochner are on the road with purchased equipment from the Austrian company Wallner. This winter, Walther’s loyalty to the government-sponsored FES seems to be paying off.

Friedrich and Lochner, who won the four-man World Championships at the same time and had clear advantages last winter, are still waiting for their first podium finishes. However, the three kick-off World Cups in North America are still considered a test run this season, and difficulties were expected. The fine-tuning should be done at the European races.

“Johannes Lochner had been in the medal ranks here in Park City for a long time, he still has some driving reserves that need to be tapped,” said Spies:”The middle sector was not good enough for Friedrich, he has to do better.

The German women, also competing with FES sledges, convinced in Park City. Stephanie Schneider (Oberbärenburg) only narrowly missed the podium in fourth place with pusher Lisa Buckwitz. Already in Lake Placid she had surprised with third place. European Champion Mariama Jamanka (Oberhof) was sixth with Erline Nolte, also World Cup debutant Anna Köhler (Winterberg) finished eighth with Ann-Christin Strack in the Top 10. The victory went to US driver Jamie Greubel Poser ahead of Olympic champion Kaillie Humphries (Canada) and Elana Meyers Taylor (USA).

On Saturday another four-man bobsleigh race will take place in Park City. One week earlier, the race of the supreme discipline in Lake Placid had to be cancelled due to difficult track conditions, instead two races had been held there in a small sleigh.