Olympics-Bobsleigh-Brilliant Lochner on course for double gold

By Mitch Phillips

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Germany’s Johannes Lochner stamped his authority all over the Four-Man bobsleigh at the Winter Olympics on Saturday, opening a huge halfway lead in a crash-strewn blue riband event as he seeks to complete a golden Cortina double.

The race suffered several delays after three crashes. The most spectacular saw Austrian Jakob Mandlbauer's sled flipped upside down in dramatic style, with the pilot later cleared of suffering any serious injury after being checked in hospital.

Lochner, so long the bridesmaid behind German double defending champion Francesco Friedrich, created a 0.43-second gap on his compatriot and looks on course for a repeat of his victory in the Two-Man event.

Lochner won silver in both events behind Friedrich in 2022 but has been the form man all season and brought that into Saturday’s racing when he went out first and posted a track record 53.91 seconds before backing it up with 54.70 on the second.

EARLY TWITCHES

Despite matching the leader’s start record, Friedrich had a couple of twitches in the challenging early curves and was 0.39 behind after the first run. He bettered that start record on the second but still lost ground.

Friedrich has won the last seven world championships – one tied with Lochner – and seven of the last eight World Cup titles.

He came into these Games level with fellow pilot Andre Lange and brakeman Kevin Kuske on four golds, but after adding the silver in the Two-Man he still trails Kuske in the all-time medal rankings.

Another silver on Sunday would take him level with Kuske and also make him the most successful pilot in Olympic history, but for a man so used to standing on the top step, that is not something he will be thinking about overnight.

Germany swept the podium in the Two-Man, having done the same in Beijing when it was the first time any nation had managed it in a bobsleigh event, and they have a fighting chance of repeating it in the event that has been in the Games since 1924 bar one year.

Germany's Adam Ammour, who got bronze in the Two-Man, was fifth after the first run on Saturday but found a perfect line on the second to post the fastest time and climb to third, 0.59 off the pace.

Swiss duo Michael Vogt and Cedric Follador, Italy's Patrick Baumgartner and Britain’s Brad Hall are on Ammour's tail should he falter in the final two runs on Sunday that close the sliding programme, but few will be betting against the Germans.

The French and Trinidad & Tobago teams suffered minor crashes but Mandlbauer’s at turn nine looked worse as he received medical attention for around 10 minutes trackside while the race was halted.

"It was curve nine again, where we already crashed once in training," said brakeman Daniel Bertschler.

"The entry wasn’t perfect, and after that there wasn’t much we could do. We were glad the Austrian doctor was immediately there to take care of us."

The Austrian Olympic Committee released a statement.

"Jakob Mandlbauer underwent a comprehensive initial examination at the Codovilla Hospital after his crash in Cortina and was transferred to Treviso Hospital in the afternoon for further monitoring of an intervertebral disc problem," it said.