Nolte, Lochner win World Cup bobsled races in Lake Placid
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) — Germany swept a pair of bobsled World Cup races Saturday, with Johannes Lochner driving to a rare win over countryman Francesco Friedrich in two-man and Laura Nolte holding off Kaillie Humphries of the U.S. for a monobob victory.
Lochner and Georg Fleischhauer finished their two runs at Mount Van Hoevenberg in 1 minute, 51.88 seconds. That was 0.32 seconds ahead of Friedrich and Alexander Schueller. The Swiss team of Michael Vogt and Sandro Michel were another 0.06 seconds back for third.
It was the first loss in five World Cup races this season for Friedrich, the reigning Olympic two-man and four-man champion.
Frank Del Duca had the top U.S. finish, teaming with Hakeem Abdul-Saboor for eighth. Geoff Gadbois and Martin Christofferson were 10th.
In the monobob race, Nolte finished two runs in 2:01.31 and beat Humphries — the reigning Olympic monobob champion — by 0.11 seconds. Germany’s Lisa Buckwitz was third, a half-second behind Humphries.
Nicole Vogt was seventh and Riley Compton eighth for the U.S.
The World Cup weekend in Lake Placid concludes Sunday with women’s bobsled and the four-man race.