ST. MORITZ, Switzerland (AP) — Francesco Friedrich got the 85th World Cup bobsled victory of his career Sunday, dominating the second heat to win a four-man race.
Friedrich and his team of Matthias Sommer, Alexander Schuller and Felix Straub were one of four sleds all within 0.01 seconds of the lead after the first heat. But Friedrich had the fastest time in the second heat by about a quarter of a second, good enough for yet another win.
The German sled piloted by Johannes Lochner was second, and the British sled piloted by Brad Hall was third. The U.S. sled driven by Frank del Duca was 16th.
In the two-woman bobsled race earlier Sunday, Germany swept the medals.
Kim Kalicki and Leonie Fiebig won gold, Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi won silver and Lisa Buckwitz and Neele Schuten took the bronze. The top U.S. sled was piloted by Elana Meyers Taylor and pushed by Sadie McMullen; they were fourth, about a second behind the winning time.
At Altenberg, Germany, Austria’s Madeleine Egle got her third World Cup women’s singles luge win in five races this season and slipped past fellow Austrian Lisa Schulte for the overall standings lead.
Egle was first, Germany’s Anna Berreiter was second and Germany’s Merle Fraebel was third. Egle improved her season point total to 359, four ahead of Schulte in the seasonlong standings.
The top U.S. women’s finisher Sunday was Ashley Farquharson, who was sixth.
The U.S. got a bronze medal in the team relay on Sunday. Latvia’s team — singles sliders Kendija Aparjode and Kristers Aparjods, plus the doubles teams of Martins Bots and Roberts Plume, along with Marta Robezniece and Kitija Bogdanova — was first in that race.
Germany — singles sliders Anna Berreiter and Max Langenhan, doubles teams Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt, along with Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal — was second.
The Americans — Farquharson and Jonny Gustafson handling singles, plus the doubles teams of Marcus Mueller and Ansel Haugsjaa, along with Chevonne Forgan and Sophie Kirkby — were third.
Bobsled: World Cup monobob and two-man Saturday at Igls, Austria.
Luge: World Cup men's doubles, women's doubles and women's singles Saturday at Winterberg, Germany.
Skeleton: World Cup season finales for men’s, women’s and mixed team Feb. 7 at Lillehammer, Norway.
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