Friedrich snaps out of bobsleigh funk, taking 4-man event to cap German medal haul
Men, women earn 5 of possible 6 podium spots in Winterberg; Canadians finish 9th
Francesco Friedrich ended a three-race winless drought on Sunday, driving to a four-man World Cup victory to cap a day when Germany won five out a possible six medals on home soil in Winterberg.
Friedrich and his team of Thorsten Margis, Candy Bauer and Alexander Schuller finished their two runs in one minute 49.07 seconds. The British sled driven by Brad Hall was second in 1:49.25, and Germany's sled driven by Johannes Lochner was third in 1:49.27.
Friedrich's three-race streak without a win was the Olympic champion's and world champion's longest since 2020. He has now medalled in 81 of his last 87 international races.
The lone Canadian team of Taylor Austin, Davidson De Souza, Shaq Murray-Lawrence and Cyrus Gray was ninth of 16 finishers in 1:50.34.
"We executed the program well with two consistent runs," Austin said in a news release. "This is a fun but tricky track. It requires a lot of finesse and makes you really have to focus on the details to be fast."
On Saturday, Austin and Murray-Lawrence were 11th in the two-man race in 1:52.66.
Germany swept a women's race earlier Sunday, continuing its dominance on the Winterberg track. German women have captured 11 of a possible 12 medals in the last four races at Winterberg.
Laura Nolte and Neele Schuten prevailed in 1:53.74. Lisa Buckwitz and Kira Lipperheide were second in 1:54.09 and Kim Kalicki and Leonie Fiebig got third in 1:54.20.
For a second straight day, Toronto's Cynthia Appiah finished inside the top 10 with her 1:55.44 clocking with partner Leah Walkeden good for ninth. The 32-year-old was eighth in Saturday's monobob competition.
"It was much better today in terms of what I wanted to execute on," Appiah said. "My focus today was putting down two solid runs.
"While the second run wasn't as good, it was a marked improvement over yesterday's monobob runs. I feel my confidence in two-woman is creeping back up."
Bianca Ribi of Winnipeg, fresh off a ninth-place showing on Saturday in monobob, teamed with Niamh Haughey of Whitby, Ont., to place 12th of 16 sleds in Sunday's bobsleigh event.
The World Cup bobsleigh and skeleton circuit moves to Altenberg, Germany, next weekend.
With files from CBC Sports
