Now it starts: Johannes Lochner and team (Winterberg, January 4, 2026)
German bobsleigh fans in particular were excited about the race in Winterberg in North Rhine-Westphalia. But before the first World Cup of the new year took place last weekend, we went to Sigulda, Latvia in mid-December (December 20th/21st, 2025). For technical reasons, you can only jump down the 1,200 meter track there with two-man bobsleighs. The 16 curves were designed in 1986 by Udo Gurgel from Leipzig, whose company is also responsible for the quickly built track in Cortina, Italy. The ice track in Sigulda is considered too narrow for four-man bobsleighs, although the 16 curves are quite extensive and the 200 meter long braking distance is sufficient for top speed.
On December 20th everything went as it had in previous years, as Francesco Friedrich won ahead of Johannes Lochner and Adam Ammour (all Germany). A day later, first and second swapped: Lochner was ahead of Friedrich and Ammour. For the women, the monobob competition was particularly interesting. Breeana Walker from Australia was finally able to win this, ahead of Laura Nolte from Germany and Katrin Beierl from Austria. In the women’s two-man bobsleigh, Kaillie Humphries (USA) won ahead of Lisa Buckwitz and Laura Nolte (both Germany).
Now we went to Winterberg to the fourth oldest artificial ice rink in the world. On Sunday, Claudia Nolte straightened things out in the two-man bobsleigh: She won on her home track together with Deborah Levi ahead of the Buckwitz and Kim Kalicki teams (also from Germany).
Winterberg has one of the most beautiful tracks in the world, with elegant curves on which the bobsleighs and racing sleds literally float to the finish. Don’t hum “Totally detached…”, but it’s very pretty to look at. The 1,609 meter long channel has 15 curves that hardly allow for falls. Between the most difficult turns 12 and 13, good bobsledders can reach a speed of 140 kilometers per hour. However, the women have to avoid hitting the gang with their monobobs – this slows down the speed and quickly throws the vehicle off track. In Winterberg too, Nolte made no mistakes in the single-seater and shot to first place. She was followed by the Canadian Cynthia Appiah and Lisa-Marie Buckwitz from Berlin. Humphries finished fifth. Kalicki, who couldn’t cope with the monobob, only ended up in eleventh place.
At the men’s two-man bobsleigh competition on Saturday, as usual, the names Johannes Lochner (with Georg Fleischhauer), Adam Ammour (with Alexander Schaller) and Francesco Friedrich (with Alexander Schüller) were read at the top of the display board, this time in this order. Despite a longer waiting time during which the track had to be cleared of snow and a poor start time, Lochner steered almost perfectly through the curves using the steering cables. Even a small bump in the twelfth corner didn’t unsettle him.
At the four-man bobsleigh World Cup on Sunday, national coach René Spies was happy about a German triple success. Friedrich finally showed his driving skills again. The pilot from BSC Sachsen Oberbärenburg gained a lead of 0.02 seconds and left Lochner and Co. behind, who messed up the start in the first run. Ammour and his team pushed past Briton Brad Hall in the second run, which they completed extremely quickly and without mistakes. The cherished third place was the reward.
The next World Cups will take place on the natural ice rink of St. Moritz in Switzerland (10/11.1.) and on the dangerous track of Altenberg in Saxony (17./18.1.), where Friedrich could benefit from his home advantage.
