Friedrich of Germany locks up World Cup bobsled 4-man, combined season titles again

Francesco Friedrich won two more World Cup bobsled overall titles yesterday [Macau time], the 21st and 22nd of the German star’s career.

Friedrich drove to a second-place finish in the World Cup four-man race, good enough to clinch his seventh consecutive season title in that sled and his eighth combined World Cup crown. He clinched the season title — his seventh — in two-man on Saturday.

His career numbers only get more absurd: 147 World Cup race medals, four Olympic gold medals and 14 gold medals in world championship races — a figure he’ll look to improve when bobsled holds its world title races for 2025 over the first two weeks of March in Lake Placid, New York.

“The whole season was very good,” Friedrich said. “We stand on the podium, we did a great job on the start. Sometimes I don’t even get the best line, but yes, we were good the whole season.”

Johannes Lochner of Germany drove to the four-man win, wrapping up his second-place finish in the season standings. Friedrich was second and Brad Hall of Britain was third — the same spot he ended up in the four-man seasonlong chase.

“It’s such a fantastic and beautiful sport,” Friedrich said. “With the guys, it’s so fun every week. We did our best every week.”

In the two-woman race, Laura Nolte of Germany drove to the win — her fifth of the season — to clinch the overall title in that event. Lisa Buckwitz of Germany was second and Melissa Lotholz of Canada was third.

Luge

Germany and Austria swept all nine medals awarded yesterday on the final day of a World Cup in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

In women’s singles, Lisa Schulte of Austria prevailed over Merle Fraebel of Germany and Hannah Prock of Austria. In mixed singles, Schulte paired with Wolfgang Kindl to win, with Max Langenhan and Fraebel placing second and the German team of Felix Loch and Julia Taubitz finishing third.

And in mixed doubles, Germany 1 — Toni Eggert and Florian Mueller for the men, Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal for the women — got the win. Austria was second, with Kindl and Thomas Steu on the men’s sled and Selina Egle and Lara Kipp on the women’s sled.

Germany 2 was third: Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt for the men and Dajana Eitberger and Magadalena Matschina for the women.

The U.S. had three sixth-place finishes: Zach Di Gregorio, Sean Hollander, Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby in mixed doubles, Tucker West and Ashley Farquharson in mixed singles, and Farquharson in the women’s singles race.

Up next

Luge — World Cup men’s doubles, women’s doubles and women at Yanqing, China, on Saturday; World Cup men’s singles and team relay at Yanqing on Sunday.

Skeleton — Day 1 of men’s and women’s world championships at Lake Placid on March 6.

Bobsled — Day 1 of women’s monobob and two-man world championships at Lake Placid on March 8. MDT/AP