LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) — The greatest ever just keeps getting better.
Francesco Friedrich is a world champion again, winning the two-man race at Mount Van Hoevenberg on Sunday in a down-to-the-wire finish — holding off German teammate Johannes Lochner by the razor-slim margin of 0.03 seconds over four runs encompassing about 4 miles of ice.
“It was a tough battle,” Friedrich said. “We said it would be.”
It’s the ninth two-man world championship of Friedrich's career and extended his record total to 15 world titles overall, when adding in his six crowns in four-man. He’ll look to add another four-man title when worlds conclude in Lake Placid next week.
That total doesn’t even take into account his four Olympic gold medals — two-man and four-man sweeps at the 2018 and 2022 Games. When it comes to the biggest races, nobody has won more than Friedrich. Not even close. And for this title, he had to make up some ground in the final turns.
“Having the motivation to win every race is no problem for me,” Friedrich said.
Friedrich and Alexander Schüller finished their four runs over two days in 3 minutes, 39.32 seconds. Lochner and Georg Fleischhauer finished in 3:39.35, and Adam Ammour and Benedikt Hertel finished the German medal sweep in 3:40.15.
It's the fourth time in the last five years that Germany has swept the medals in the season's biggest two-man race, this one being added to the sweeps at worlds in 2021, the 2022 Beijing Olympics and last year's world championships.
Frank Del Duca and Charlie Volker were fourth for the U.S. in 3:40.38, missing a medal by less than a quarter-second. And after it was over, Del Duca tipped his cap to Friedrich's continued dominance.
“He knows how to communicate with a sled," Del Duca said. “He knows when he needs to steer a little more. He knows when to just let it run. And sometimes he’s flat-out flawless. He just knows how to get speed out of the sled. And he and the guys around him are incredible athletes. They always find a way to get it done.”
Friedrich was first down the mountain Sunday and set the tone by completing Run 3 in 54.60 seconds, a track record — shaving 0.01 seconds off the mark that Pierre Lueders of Canada set 22 years ago.
And Friedrich held the record for about two minutes. Lochner got down in 54.52 seconds, cutting Friedrich's overall lead going into the final heat to 0.06 seconds.
The start order is reversed for the final run so Lochner went next-to-last, one sled before Friedrich, and finished in 54.94 seconds. That meant Friedrich needed a 55.00 to tie; he crossed the line in 54.97.
Lochner's split times in the final run put him ahead of Friedrich with about three turns left, before Friedrich made up the deficit in the final 100 meters or so of the track.
Friedrich got five wins in the World Cup season and Lochner won four times. There are only eight races — the German stars actually tied for the win in one of those events, and through 20 competitive two-man runs this season Friedrich's two-man sled finished a mere 1.13 seconds faster than Lochner's.
They were close all season, and close again in the season's two-man finale.
“It was an amazing race,” Lochner said.
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