WINTERBERG, Germany, Jan. 3 -- Olympic champion Francesco Friedrich took his first title of the season as Germany had a one-two finish in the 4-man bobsleigh at the IBSF World Cup here on Friday.
Friedrich, teamed up with Candy Bauer, Martin Grothkopp and Thorsten Margis, clocked one minute and 50.53 seconds in the two-round race to win. Another German team led by PyeongChang runner-up Nico Walther finished in the second place despite being the fastest in the first round.
Walther, just returning from injury, raced with his crew Paul Krenz, Joshua Bluhm and Eric Franke to finish 0.20s behind Friedrich and his squad.
The third place went to the Latvian team of Oskars Kibermanis, Lauris Kaufmanis, Arvis Vilkaste and Matiss Miknis, 0.40s off the pace. The Latvians pushed European Champion Johannes Lochner with Florian Bauer, Christopher Weber and Christian Rasp of Germany into fourth place by just one hundredth of a second.
Canadian bobsledder Justin Kripps defended his lead in the World Cup overall standings this season. After two victories in the opening races in Lake Placid, United States, and a fifth-place finish in Winterberg, Kripps has 634 points. Friedrich stands the second with 617 points ahead of Kibermanis with 602 points.
Winterberg is scheduled to host another 4-man bobsleigh race on Saturday. As the fourth World Cup event of the season, this race will also count as the European Championships for European athletes.