Two, Men

The German two-man bobsleigh team of Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis, who carried the German flag at the closing ceremony, defended their Olympic title, as they each won their third gold medal, having also triumphed in four-man in 2018.

Germany swept the medals, with silver going to the team of Johannes Lochner and Florian Bauer, while Christoph Hafer and Matthias Sommer took bronze. Lochner competed in 2018, but without winning a medal, while Bauer, Hafer, and Sommer were making their Olympic débuts. Germany’s medal sweep was the first ever in bobsleigh. More than two sleds in any event have only been allowed at the Olympic Winter Games since 2010.

There have been 22 cases of NOCs putting two sleds on the podium in men’s bobsleigh, 13 times in two-man and nine times in four-man. The women had also had three multi-podia previously in the two-woman event. For the men, NOCs had gone 1-2 11 times in bobsleigh – six times in the two-man. The last of these occurred in 2010 by Germany, and before that, by Switzerland in 1994.

This was the eighth medal sweep by Germany at the Olympic Winter Games, but only the third in a men’s event, after the 2018 Nordic combined large hill / 10 km event and the 1964 luge men’s singles.

Since 1952, a German, or German-related team, such as the German Democratic Republic (East), or the Federal Republic of Germany (West), had won a medal in the two-man event at every Olympic Winter Games, except for 1956, 1964, 1994, and 2014.

Friedrich and Margis became the fifth and sixth sliders to win two gold medals in this event, and this is the third time that the same pair has defended the two-man title, after Gustav Weder and Donat Acklin (Switzerland) in 1992-1994, and André Lange and Kevin Kuske (Germany) in 2006-2010.

In sixth place was the sleigh of Rudy Rinaldi and Boris Vain, which produced the best-ever finish for Monaco at the Olympic Winter Games. The previous best finish was 12th in the 2006 two-man bob.

Despite recent German dominance, Switzerland still led the medal table in this event with 16 after Beijing, with Germany on 12 medals, but this victory moved them ahead of Switzerland in gold medals, 6 to 5. Prior to this event, Germany trailed the United States in total bobsleigh medals, 27-25, but the medal sweep moved them ahead of the USA, 28-27. Both NOCs trailed Switzerland, which had 31.

Justin Kripps (Canada), who shared the gold medal with Friedrich four years ago in PyeongChang 2018, finished in 10th place in Beijing. Brad Hall and brakeman Nick Gleeson (Great Britain ) suffered a crash in the first run of the day at curve 13, and crossed the finish line with their sled on its side. But Hall recovered for the fourth and final run to finish 11th overall.