The world champions Johannes Lochner (Stuttgart) and Francesco Friedrich (Oberbärenburg) have won the German four-man bobsleigh doubles at the World Cup in St. Gallen. Moritz presents.
Four weeks before the winter games in Pyeongchang, Lochner prevailed with a lead of 14 hundredths of a second over Friedrich on Sunday, but the triumph was prevented by a disqualification against Nico Walther.
The Oberbärenburger, who had won the two-man race on Saturday, was in third place after the first run. But then Walther was taken out of the classification because his bob was three kilograms too light.
“At the end of the day, the pilot is the chief in the four-man team, he is responsible for ensuring that the weight of the sled is right,”said Thomas Schwab, board member of the German association BSD. Last weekend in Altenberg, Walther had already been disqualified after finishing third in second place because of a faulty bonnet.
The last place on the podium was taken in St.. Moritz now the Canadian Chris Spring. Looking at the games in Pyeongchang (9. till 25. February) St.. Moritz is nevertheless sending out many encouraging signals.
Lochner is the clear gold favourite after his fourth victory in the seventh four-man race of the season. In the two-man race Walther had also led a triple victory ahead of Friedrich and Lochner.
The women also shone on the only natural ice rink in the calendar, securing a third place on the starting grid for the Olympics. Mariama Jamanka (Oberhof) was second and only Elana Meyers Taylor from the USA had to admit defeat.
Stephanie Schneider (Oberbärenburg), the German federation BSD, took third place in the women’s national ranking on the cut-off date, thus taking second place behind the USA. Only the two best countries get three grid positions for South Korea.