Olympia 2018: Double gold for “Friedrich the Great” – Walther takes silver

Bob pilot Francesco Friedrich won the gold medal in the two-man bobsleigh. Nico Walther won silver in fours.

When “Friedrich the Great” had crowned the German Bobsleigh Festival in Pyeongchang with gold in the royal class, all dams broke: Double Olympic champion Francesco Friedrich fell overjoyed his three pushers, national trainer Rene Spies shouted out his joy loudly.”That’s great. The three guys behind me did a fantastic job of it and kept my back clear. Twice gold is unbelievable,”said Friedrich on ZDF.

After gold for Friedrich im Zweier, the foursome came to a demonstration of power. Fast at the start, sensitively on track – after four runs the 27-year-old World Champion was clearly ahead of team mate Nico Walther (Oberbärenburg) and South Korean Won Yun Jong (both +0.53) who won silver at the same time.

The World Championship third place winner Walther thus rounded off the remarkably strong performance of the German pilots at the Alpensia Sliding Centre. In the last run he made up for a gap of 0.07 seconds to local hero Won.”That’s great. We confidently drove down the medal. I am overjoyed,”said Walther.

Four years after the embarrassment of Sochi, when the successful German team had been without an Olympic medal for the first time in 50 years, the German pilots are once again the yardstick of all things. Also because Mariama Jamanka raced sensationally to the women’s Olympic victory.

Only four-time world champion Johannes Lochner (Stuttgart) did not feel like celebrating on the closing day of the Winter Games. The 27-year-old, who won last winter’s World Cup with Friedrich at the same time, came in eighth with a clear gap of 1.26 seconds.

Lochner struggled with his problems in curve two at halftime,”I tried everything. It’s probably the only bend in the world I can’t figure out. Unfortunately, of all things at the Olympics,”said Lochner.

A completely different story for Friedrich, who didn’t give the competition a chance from the beginning and on Sunday he expanded his already calming halftime advantage again. It was the 14th. Gold for Team D in South Korea.

Friedrich, who won the two-man event at the same time as Canadian Justin Kripps, is thus the first driver since Germany’s bobsleigh icon Andre Lange in 2006 and the only sixth ever to have won gold in the small sleigh and the supreme discipline in an Olympic edition. Friedrich is also the youngest pilot since Wolfgang Hoppe in 1984 to win gold in the big sled.