Altenberg. Nothing and no one can stop him on his hunt for a record, obviously not even the worst weather. In heavy snowfall, Bobsleigh pilot Francesco Frederick once again pulled away from the competition at lunch time and is leading the World Cup at his home track in Ellenberg by a large margin. After two out of four runs at the two-man bobsleigh, the Pirna man placed 0.88 seconds between him and the rest of the world for the first time at the World Championships by Alexander Schuler.
Frederick is on his way to his seventh consecutive two-way title and his tenth overall win at the World Cup – the next record in his highly successful career. “Everything’s fine,” Frederick later said – and looking up: “We’re initially satisfied that we have a good pillow with conditions the other day. Because it’s not necessarily our favorite season.”
Nevertheless, BSC Sachsen Oberbärenburg’s exceptional athletes were again in a league of their own and, despite the snow, missed the opening record of just 5.11 seconds by 0.01 seconds. “No problem. We knew that this time he was not going fast,” explained Frederick with nine world championship titles so far, together with the record world champion, Italian Eugenio Monti. Now it should change on Sunday afternoon, the superiority is very great.
Frederick demolished the competition from the beginning. Together with his pusher Alexander Schuler, he managed the best time twice in the first 50 meters. © dpa / Sebastian Kahrt
At second place at halftime is Frederick’s teammate Johannes Lochner / Eric Franke – the rest being the best and not as satisfied, as Lochner made it clear: “The ride was a mess, it was the worst thing I did here Delivered. ” A long time. “Königsse’s man attributed it mainly to outside conditions, but wants to win the silver medal on Sunday, as in the previous year.
Just 0.05 seconds behind him is surprisingly Swiss Michael Vogt / Sandro Mitchell and fourth, 0.15 seconds behind silver, again with Oberhofer Hans-Peter Henghofer with Christian Roeder. “He’s very incredible, especially because we made some mistakes. Our goal was the Top 8, everything is extra,” said Hannighofer, who finished fourth on the grid for the Germans with his win at the Junior World Championships two weeks ago. Had achieved. . Team Christoph Hafer / Christian Hammer takes it to seventh place.
There were already beaten world class Oksars Kibermanis (6th place, +1.19 seconds on Frederick) and Oskars Melbardis (9th, +1.42) as well as Justin Gripps (10th, 1.44) from Canada. . Austrian Benjamin Mair, another candidate for a medal, has already lost all opportunities for the top spot with a fall to second place – although the world title was already reserved for Frederick.
Benjamin Mair, one of the candidates for the medal, has been eliminated. Austrian, who was a good friend of Francesco Frederick, fell in the second run after a driving error at the roundabout exit. © screenshot
Even the first run was a display of power by the Dominator – and a fascinating reminder of the previous year. Once again Frederick started the track as one of the top drivers with the start of number four, again he was the fastest at the start (and another 0.01 seconds faster), and again the best by a large margin. Standing when the time was up. But unlike 2020, Frederick was not only 0.49 seconds ahead of the runner-up this time, but 0.52 seconds. And despite the adverse conditions at this time, his top speed on the track was also around 2.5 km / h which was more than 128.9 km / h.
A year ago, Frederick and Thorsten Margis set a track record in 54.00 seconds. But that time was not at this time, already with an impossible situation. With 54.83 seconds, he was the only person to remain below the 55 second mark.
Thums up, a small eyelid: Frederick’s gesture while exiting his sled from the FES Institute Berlin indicates a short but clear message: It’s moving! Furthermore, it was a sign of great satisfaction that is possibly even more important to this day: the snow wouldn’t stop it either.
However, the final decision will be made only from 2.30 pm on Sunday afternoon, even more inclement weather conditions cannot be ruled out. The fourth run will then start at 4 pm.
On Saturday afternoon, the women are challenged to a decisive race with three and four – and two German teams with very good chances for medals.
You can learn all about the World Championship in Altenberg on our subject page BOB-WM 2021.
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