Olympia 2018: Friedrich sets course for double gold medal

Uninhibited in the direction of double gold: Two-man Olympic champion Francesco Friedrich also clearly dominated the start in the four-man team at the Winter Games in Pyeongchang, thus following in the footsteps of the all-biggest.

The World Champion clearly leads at the half time of the competition, he is separated from the South Korean Won Yun Jong by just under three tenths of a second. On Sunday, Friedrich can become the first double Olympic gold medallist since 2006, when Andre Lange won gold in both sleds.

“We had two good starts and two good runs, especially the second run was very round. That’s all right,”Friedrich said briefly. The distance to the surprisingly strong won (0.29 seconds) gives “just a little bit of security. Such a lead has often been made up for. The railroad is suffering in foursome, so something can still happen.”

The World Cup third Nico Walther (+0.35) also won the bronze medal at halftime, just behind Won “We are really good and will hopefully win the medal tomorrow, which would make me super happy at my first games,”said Walther, who had slipped from the podium positions after a good start in the two-man race.

The first day was disappointing for World Champion Johannes Lochner (Stuttgart/+0.66). The 27-year-old, who won last winter’s World Cup simultaneously with Friedrich, is fifth together with Oskars Melbardis (Latvia) and Rico Peter (Switzerland) before the final two races on Sunday (from 9.30 a. m. to 1.30 a. m.).

Lochner always lost momentum in turn two, which was often his problem during practice,”I don’t have a plan up there,”he said,”I tried everything. It’s probably the only bend in the world I can’t figure out. Unfortunately, at the Olympics.”

Lochner had been credited with considerably more in South Korea, whereas Friedrich was regarded as the third force in the German team before the games. In the supreme discipline, the German sleds had won seven of eight races this winter, but the victories were split between Lochner (4) and Walther (3). Friedrich’s best positions in the big sled were second places in Altenberg and St. St. Moritz.

Nevertheless, national coach Rene Spies was “not surprised” by his Olympic champion’s appearance on Saturday:”Francesco has already shown this in practice. Four years after the shame of Sochi, when the German bobsleds left without a medal, Pyeongchang seems to be a big triumph for Spies and his team.

Mariama Jamanka had also sensationally won gold in the women’s category, and three medals for one nation were also awarded in 2006: In addition to Lange’s double victory, Sandra Kiriasis won the first German women’s gold medal in Turin.