Bobsleigh
ibsf
The 2021-22 edition of the Bobsleigh World Cup opens in the name of Francesco Friedrich. In Igls, the phenomenon of Pirna dominated both the two-man and four-man bobsled races, proving already in this first outing of the season that he is once again the man to beat.
Sunday 21 November 2021 7 minutes reading time
If in the four Friedrich seems to have "only" one more gear than the rest of his opponents, in the two the twelve-time world champion seems to be on another dimension, signing partial chronometric times unapproachable by the competition. On the Austrian track, the shortest in the world, the thirty-one-year-old German and his brakeman Alexander Schueller signed extraordinary intervals in the push phase, closing the practice for success already during the first descent, accumulating a margin of 34/100 on the first of the beaten. In the final heat the Teutonic duo failed to repeat the time of the first round, but was equally able to sign the best time of the heats by winning the first win of the season, the 38th in the two-man bobsleigh of their career, with a 47/100 advantage on compatriot Johannes Lochner able to recover a placement in the second run, and with a 63/100 margin on British Brad Hall, good at grabbing the second career podium.
If there has never been a fight for the first position, the fight for the third step of the podium was quite different, which saw Hall ahead of Canadian Justin Kripps by just 1/100 and the surprising American Codie Bascue by 13/100. fifth, who had closed the first heat in second position behind Friedrich. Definitely colorless race for the eighth Spring Olympic champion, and for the Latvian Kibermanis only twelfth. In Casa Italia, neither of the two crews managed to hit the top20, with Variola-Fantazzini who failed to qualify at the start of the second heat for just 2/100, and with Baumgartner-Mircea twenty-fourth.
In the four, Friedrich and brakemen Margis, Bauer and Schueller gave Germany their second win of the weekend. Thanks to two perfect starts, the greatest driver of all times set the best partials in both heats scheduled, thus conquering his 53rd victory in the World Cup, the 16th in the four-man bobsleigh. Behind Friedrich, as in the two-man bob, was the "usual" Johannes Lochner who in the second round was not very precise to the point of being joined in the place of honor by the increasingly convincing Brad Hall who thus conquers his best result of his career in the four-man bobsleigh and giving himself the second podium in two days. Fourth place for the Maier home athlete who preceded Kibermanis and Kripps. Overall good performance for the blue team, with the crew piloted by Mattia Variola and composed of Eric Fantazzini, Alex Verginer and Lorenzo Bilotti capable of hitting the 8th and 9th thrust times that allowed the Friulian driver to seize the 18th place finish. Baumgartner-Mircea-Pagnini-Obou instead classified in 24th position.
In the women's field, in the two-man bob, the German double with Laura Nolte and Leonie Fiebig who prevailed over their compatriots Kalicki-Galander and the Canadians de Bruin-Bujonowski. The twenty-three year old from Dortmund but raised in Winterberg, once again showed her full potential by making a difference in the push phase and then looking for clean lines in the driven, seizing her fifth success in the world cup. Fourth place with a bit of regret for the world champion Kaillie Humphries, author of too many smears in the final heat that saw her drop 3 positions during the final heat. The American was flanked at the foot of the podium by the Olympic champion Jamanka, preceding in order the Swiss Hasler and her compatriot Meyers-Taylor, winner the day before the Monobob race valid for the World Series and above all for the qualification. at the Beijing Games. Great joke of the day the hostess Katrin Beierl only tenth.
In Casa Italia, Giada Andreutti and Tania Vicenzino finished in 22nd place, still highlighting an important gap in the push phase compared to rivals, but at the same time they highlighted excellent progress in driving, to the point that Andreutti in the more technical sections of the Austrian track fell on the times of the top 10 of the standings. In the monobob the Friulian driver achieved the same result by missing access to the final heat for just 5 cents.
The Bobsleigh World Cup still remains for a weekend in Igls. Next weekend the Austrian track will in fact be the scene of the second round of the highest bobsleigh circuit.
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