When he heard about it, René Spies first won. One of his pilots publicly criticized a teammate? It also surprises the experienced head coach of German Bobsleigh drivers. But after the World Cup at the four-member Bobsleigh in Winterberg, which was also classified as the European Championship, Francesco Friedrich opted for clear words to address the crew of his pilot colleague Johannes Lochner. How spies and scolders reacted.

Said frederick

“Embarrassing”; “This is not how you can present yourself as a reigning European champion” – among other things, this is what Frederick told Johannes Lochner’s pushers. While Saxon and his crew set a new start record in the second run at the Weltins-Eisenarra, the clock for Lochner also halted a start time that was a hundredth of a second slower than a run.

Due to a driving mistake at the start of the first run, Lochner had already snapped the possibility of a fifth consecutive European title. He said, “It shouldn’t happen. As a pilot, I know that if we are at the top we can get out immediately,” he said, “The early times were underground. We have to think about this very quickly . “

Rene detectives also warn

These early times – they were also in the stomach of Francesco Frederick, even though it was not his team. Frederick clearly saw the overall appearance of the German bobsleigh and gave his opinion.

“Francesco is one of those people. He also speaks clearly internally when things don’t go well,” said head coach René Spies. “Franz and Hansi get together. They will make it clear internally,” added Winterberger and saw no reason to intervene publicly. Especially since Frederick aimed his criticism in a direction in which detectives had gone before.

Strong competition

“If Oscar Kiebermanis had started, the four teams would have been ahead of Lochner and Hafner,” the detective said and warned for the World Cup in Ellenburg in early February: “The competition is strong, four different nations will be podium We are fighting for it. The competition has shown. We have tasks to resolve towards the World Cup and 2022 Olympics. “

Justin Cripps (Canada), Benjamin Mair (Austria) and Rostislav Githiewicz (Russia) lagged behind Lochner and Christoph Hafer in second, third and fourth place Frederick. Latvia was missing in the vicinity of Kibermannis in Hobsaurland.

Weber practices self-criticism

But how did Friedrich scold Lochner respond to criticism? Christopher Weber (BSC Winterberg) is one of the team. He celebrated his return to Winterburg after a long injury – and was disappointed with the result anyway.

When asked to this newspaper, Weber said, “At the time of inception, it was out of the question, we don’t even need to talk about it.” to take.”

A clear goal for St. Moritz

He noted Frederick’s criticism, but did not want to comment further. Weber said, “Somehow we are all a team. Maybe they haven’t thought about how one would experience one or the other. Everything is good. There’s no tension because of it.”

At the next World Cup in St. Moritz (16/17 January), BSC pushers like to let their own action speak. “If there is to be some improvement after the analysis, we will,” he said: “Otherwise we just have to move our feet fast and attack.”