Friedrich leads 4-man world bobsled title race as weather takes its toll on Lake Placid track
Friedrich leads 4-man world bobsled title race as weather takes its toll on Lake Placid track
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) — Germany’s Francesco Friedrich is well on his way to another world bobsled title.
And that was about the only predictable development in the four-man world championship race that started Friday at Mount Van Hoevenberg.
The second heat of the four-heat race was canceled — after it had been run in its entirety — Friday because of track conditions getting worse as the air temperature climbed quickly, the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation said.
That decision came after Germany’s Johannes Lochner had one of the runners attached to his sled damaged by sliding through bare spots on the track. He also had damage to the front of his sled from something that happened as he jumped in at the start, which wouldn’t have been caused by any track condition issue.
Germany successfully appealed and Lochner could have taken his second run again, but the jury decided that warmer air wouldn’t have led to that re-run having a fair result. So, the entire heat was canceled.
“The competition will resume (Saturday) as planned with heats 3 and 4,” the IBSF said.
Weather-permitting, that is.
It was about 25 degrees Fahrenheit (-4 degrees Celsius) when racing started Friday and climbed to about 48 degrees (8 degrees Celsius) when the four-man event was done for the morning. And the weather forecast for Saturday calls for even warmer air.
Friedrich — a 15-time world champion, with nine two-man golds and four two-man golds on his resume along with two more Olympic golds in both disciplines — was going to be the leader anyway. His one-run time is 54.23 seconds, with Lochner (54.52) second and Britain’s Brad Hall (54.54) third.
Had the second run counted, Hall would have been second, with Germany’s Adam Ammour third, Frank Del Duca of the U.S. fourth, Kris Horn of the U.S. in fifth and Lochner in sixth. Instead, it’s officially Friedrich, Lochner and Hall in the top three spots, followed by Ammour, Del Duca and then Horn and South Korea’s Jinsu Kim tied for sixth.
“We’ve prepared. We’re ready. It’s just time to make consistent runs,” Del Duca said.
The four-man race is scheduled to resume at 8 a.m. Saturday, followed by the final two runs of women’s bobsled in the early afternoon.
Women’s bobsled
The leaderboard after Day 1 of the two-woman bobsled championship looks like this: Germany, Germany, Germany, United States, United States, United States.
Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi finished their two runs in 1 minute, 52.77 seconds, good enough for a lead of 0.23 seconds over Kim Kalicki and Leonie Fiebig. Lisa Buckwitz and Kira Lipperheide capped off the German grip on the top three spots Friday, finishing another two-tenths of a second off the lead.
Germany is looking to sweep the two-woman medals at the world championships for the second straight year. A year ago, Buckwitz drove to the win, with Nolte second and Kalicki third.
World monobob champion Kaysha Love led the American contingent on Day 1, after she and Jazmine Jones were fourth in 1:53.53. Kaillie Humphries and Emily Renna are fifth for the U.S., with Elana Meyers Taylor and Lolo Jones sixth.
All three U.S. sleds still have a medal shot on Saturday.
“Push hard. Drive fast,” Humphries said. “That’s always the strategy.”
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