Friedrich leads 4-man world bobsled title race as weather takes its toll on Lake Placid track

By Canadian Press on March 14, 2025.

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) — Germany’s Francesco Friedrich is well on his way to another world bobsled title.

And that was about the only predictable development in the four-man world championship race that started Friday at Mount Van Hoevenberg.

The second heat of the four-heat race was canceled — after it had been run in its entirety — Friday because of track conditions getting worse as the air temperature climbed quickly, the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation said.

That decision came after Germany’s Johannes Lochner had one of the runners attached to his sled damaged by sliding through bare spots on the track. He also had damage to the front of his sled from something that happened as he jumped in at the start, which wouldn’t have been caused by any track condition issue.

“The jury at the IBSF Bobsleigh & Skeleton World Championships Lake Placid 2025 decided to cancel heat 2 of today’s 4-man-bobsleigh competition due to track conditions,” the IBSF said. “The race will be continued with two heats (Saturday) as scheduled.”

Weather-permitting, that is.

It was about 25 degrees Fahrenheit (-4 degrees Celsius) when racing started Friday and climbed to about 48 degrees (8 degrees Celsius) when the four-man event was done for the morning. The track, which has an artificial refrigeration system, was disintegrating quickly — and that was with the two-woman race set to begin in the afternoon.

And the weather forecast for Saturday calls for even warmer air.

Friedrich — a 15-time world champion, with nine two-man golds and four two-man golds on his resume along with two more Olympic golds in both disciplines — was going to be the leader anyway. His one-run time is 54.23 seconds, with Lochner (54.52) second and Britain’s Brad Hall (54.54) third.

Had the second run counted, Hall would have been second, with Germany’s Adam Ammour third, Frank Del Duca of the U.S. fourth, Kris Horn of the U.S. in fifth and Lochner in sixth. Instead, it’s officially Friedrich, Lochner and Hall in the top three spots, followed by Ammour, Del Duca and then Horn and South Korea’s Jinsu Kim tied for sixth.

The two-woman race was to start later Friday and conclude Saturday afternoon. The four-man race is scheduled to resume at 8 a.m. Saturday.

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The Associated Press