German monologue in Igls! Friedrich and Nolte dominate the second stage of the World Cup.

It is still German domination in Igls in the second round of the bobsleigh World Cup. To win or rather to dominate is once again the champion Francesco Friedrich who gives the umpteenth double bob to two - bob to four of his incredible career on the Austrian gut. In the women's field, on the other hand, Laura Nolte makes the big voice and, like her illustrious compatriot, continues to dictate the law in the World Cup.

Sunday 28 November 2021 7 minutes reading time

Like seven days ago in the seasonal opening, Friedrich scored the best time references in all 4 heats, highlighting an embarrassing superiority over the rest of the company. In the two-man bob despite the change of brakeman, (he went from Alexander Schueller to Thorsten Margis ed) the 11-time world champion has trimmed the beauty of 36 cents to his teammate Johannes Lochner and 48 to the Olympic champion Justin Kripps. Friedrich continues to make a difference in the thrust phase, where at the moment only the Russian Gaitiukevich manages to counter him, then on the driven he relies on his enormous experience leading clean lines that may not turn out to be the most appropriate, but thanks to the great accumulated advantage in the first part of the race he always manages to sign the best time. Fourth place for the aforementioned Gaitiukevich who preceded in order the British Hall (fifth) and the third of the German team Christoph Hafer (sixth) who with the disqualification in the four-man bobsleigh due to the fall (apparently without consequences ed) of the second internal in the starting phase, is likely to be questioned in view of the next World Cup races. Not even a first descent, anything but precise, prevented Francesco Friedrich from conquering yet another success also in the four-man bob. The thirty-one year old from Saxony accompanied in the race by Thorsten Margis, Martin Grothkopp and Alexander Schueller in fact made several mistakes during today's first round, in particular the one coming out of the kreisel could have even brought him to an overthrow, but despite this the German still managed to sign the best chronometric reference. In the second, the Olympic champion of Pyeongchang 2018 went down more controlled by printing the best time of the heats and taking home the sixth consecutive double (bob two and four). Behind Friedrich a splendid fight for the place of honor began, with an extraordinary Oskars Kibermanis who, thanks to a splendid comeback, managed to conquer second place, returning to the podium in this specialty after almost 22 months. Third position for the constant Justin Kripps who preceded Gaitiukevich by just 2 cents, and by 6 the duo Church-Maier who closed the TopFive. Second heat that cost Johannes Lochner dearly, who dropped to sixth from the provisional second position. In Casa Italia the enormous progress already highlighted last weekend in the thrust of both crews of the four is confirmed. In fact, the Azzurri partnerships both printed decidedly competitive starting times that bode well in view of the next races where they will run on decidedly more technical tracks than the Austrian one. In the four-man bobsleigh, Italy manages to qualify both crews for the second heat with Baumgartner-Mircea-Pagnini-Obou 19mi and Variola-Fantazzini-Verginer-Bilotti 21mi. If good indications are glimpsed in the four-man bob, the situation is different in the two-man bob, where the Azzurri are still struggling to hit the top20. Igls finished 24th and 25th with Variola-Fantazzini and Baumgartner-Mircea, results that are not enough to qualify for the Beijing 2022 Games. In the women's field, second consecutive victory for Laura Nolte. The twenty-three year old Winterberg paired today with Deborah Levi, preceded by just 6 cents her compatriot Kim Kalicki, author of the best time in the final heat. The podium was completed by Canadian Christine de Bruin who prevented Germany from completing the top-three, ahead of reigning Olympic champion Mariama Jamanka by 19 cents. Fifth position for Elana Meyers-Taylor, winner of the Monobob race like a week ago (valid only for the World Series and not for the World Cup), while only tenth was the multiple Olympic and world champion Kaillie Humprhies seemed rather penalized by the push by Lolo Jones. Only two small cents prevent the blue Giada Andreutti and Tania Vicenzino from gaining access to the final heat. The two Friulians improve the push time of last week but by a whisker they are unable to enter the winds closing in 21st position. In the monobob on the other hand, Andreutti closes in 23rd place. After two consecutive weekends in Igls, the bobsleigh circuit moves to Altenberg where the third act of the 2021-22 World Cup will take place in 7 days.