Simply unbeatable: Pilot Francesco Friedrich lost a major title race eight years ago in the two-man bobsleigh.
Photo: AFP / Daniel Mihailescu
When Francesco Friedrich carried the German flag into the Olympic Stadium at the opening ceremony, he felt it was an accolade. On Tuesday evening, the world’s best bobsleigh pilot took the penultimate step to the Olympic “royal throne” of bobsledders in the Yanqing ice track. The 31-year-old exceptional performer confidently clinched the third Olympic victory of his career, which had been planned, together with brakeman Thorsten Margis in a pair. With another four he can catch up with record Olympic champion Andre Lange on Sunday.
“It feels fantastic because it’s been a tough two weeks here. We rocked it and can be proud,« said Friedrich after his triumphant ride. Brakeman Margis added: “The pressure was tremendous. But we drove to victory under the motto Attack is the best defense.« Because Friedrich was not satisfied with the training runs, he had swapped the bobsled again before the first run and drove Kim Kalicki’s women’s two to gold. Perhaps the biggest favorite of these winter games also crowned a historic German triple victory.
The lead over Johannes Lochner and Florian Bauer, who congratulated them fairly at the finish, was almost half a second. Christoph Hafer and Matthias Sommer completed the complete German triumph with bronze. There have never been three sleds from a national team on the podium at the Olympics. “Incredible,” commented the visibly proud national coach René Spies on his athletes.
‘Francesco has shown he’s number one. He unpacked one again at the crucial moment, but maybe we can annoy him more in the foursome. Until then, I’m happy to finally have my Olympic medal,” said Lochner. After the first two runs, he even seemed able to threaten the big dominator. At half-time they were only 15 hundredths of a second behind. But with a track record in the third run, Friedrich made the preliminary decision.
“It’s fun to show the others that we can go a step further at the decisive moment,” “King Franz” had already declared before the Winter Games. And that’s exactly what he proved after rather mediocre training rides, even at the moment when it really mattered.
Whether it was record times at the start, the feeling of driving on the track or the bobsled developed with his input by the Institute for Research and Development of Sports Equipment (FES) – Friedrich was once again in a class of his own. “He’s just an outstanding athlete. He pushes the FES, he pushes us. It doesn’t matter whether it’s nutrition, regeneration or team leadership – Francesco is setting new standards,” praised national coach Spies. Even after 13 World Championship titles and 14 overall World Cup victories – both records – Friedrich’s hunger for success is unabated.
The trigger for this was, of all things, an Olympic disappointment. In 2014 in Sochi, the German bobsledders, who were used to winning, followed behind due to material problems and experienced the worst Olympic result in more than 50 years. Friedrich’s Olympic debut was frustrating, finishing eighth and tenth. »The moment after crossing the finish line in the foursome really motivated me. Seasoned men who have won everything were deeply saddened. I swore to myself that nothing like this would ever happen again.« It was the initial spark for an unbelievable winning streak.
Bobsleigh legend Christoph Langen, who looked after Friedrich himself as national coach until 2016, places the current dominator in a series of exceptional athletes such as Roger Federer and Lewis Hamilton. ‘The whole bobsleigh world knows what Francesco does, but nobody has a prescription against him. He simply has the best overall package behind him and a top team that pulls along at all times,” explained Langen. Another important piece of the puzzle for Friedrich’s success is home trainer Gerd Leopold, who pulls the strings in the background.
Of course, Friedrich still hasn’t had enough of his record hunt. If he also wins in the foursome on Sunday, he would have been the first bobsledder to celebrate a double victory at two consecutive Olympic Games: “So far, no one has defended both gold medals.” which had already begun so perfectly with the accolade at the opening ceremony for Francesco Friedrich.
