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Germany left no doubt, again: It dominates the men’s bobsleigh world.
Johannes Lochner left no doubt, either: In his farewell season, he’s going out as the most unbeatable bobsledder on the planet.
Making it look as easy as one, two, three — or eins, zwei, drei, if you prefer — the Germans swept the medals in the two-man race at the Milan Cortina Olympics on Tuesday night, a show of absolute dominance. It was the second Olympic sweep in bobsleigh history; the other was by the Germans, also in two-man, at the Beijing Games four years ago.
And leading the way was Lochner, who got his first gold medal while posting the biggest Olympic two-man winning margin in nearly a half-century. The U.S. was the closest to thwarting the sweep; Frank Del Duca and Josh Williamson were fourth, just one spot from bronze.
“There’s nothing better than when a plan works out,” Lochner said as he wrapped his arm around brakeman Georg Fleischhauer. “Speechless … feeling so much happiness. I cannot describe this.”
In what he says was the next-to-last race of his international career, Lochner teamed with Fleischhauer to finish the four-run competition in three minutes, 39.70 seconds for his third Olympic medal. Lochner — the favorite in this weekend’s four-man race, which he plans as his finale — won by 1.34 seconds, the most lopsided margin in the Olympic two-man race in 46 years.
“To have this big a lead, it’s unbelievable. We did it,” Lochner said.
Francesco Friedrich, the gold medalist in two- and four-man at each of the last two Olympics, partnered with Alexander Schuller and was second in 3:41.04. Adam Ammour finished off the sweep, teaming with Alexander Schaller to win bronze in 3:41.52.
Canada’s top sled was 18th, piloted by Calgary’s Taylor Austin, with Shaq Murray-Lawrence of Scarborough, Ont., as brakeman. They finished 4.9 seconds behind Lochner and Fleischhauer.
Counting the World Cup season and the Olympics, there were 24 medals up for grabs in two-man races this winter. Germany won 23 of them — including the three shiniest ones.
Britain’s Brad Hall got a bronze medal at the World Cup two-man race in St. Moritz, Switzerland, last month. Otherwise, every gold, silver and bronze went to the Germans this season.
And in this Olympic four-year cycle, Germany won 34 out of 35 two-man races at the World Cup, world championship and Olympic levels — taking 85 of a possible 105 medals. For years, it was Friedrich leading the German way. This year, it’s been Lochner’s turn.
“We have to say congrats to Hansi,” Friedrich said. “He was the best this race and this season.”
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