Patrick Baumgartner sounds the alarm

What had happened? During the first two races on Friday, there had been sheer chaos on the track at Mount van Hoevenberg. After the ice broke off on German Johannes Lochner in turn 5, causing his rear skids to land on bare concrete and thus completely flatten, the jury issued a decision after fierce protests. Lochner was to repeat his run.

However, the German team led by head coach René Spies objected, arguing that a double effort within 30 minutes would distort competition. In addition, Lochner's fellow countryman Friedrich, who was stopped at a green light in the middle of his preparations for the start, had to avoid the concrete patch in the second run and thus also lost time. Ultimately, the jury annulled the second run, and the race continued with the third run on Saturday.

Partly unfair "The week before, the same thing happened to us in the two-man bobsleigh as happened to Lochner this time, namely in turn 14. When we asked the jury if anything could be done, nothing was done. However, the German race was canceled," Baumgartner criticized. The Palatinate native was in ninth place after both the first run and the ultimately canceled second run.

On Saturday, Baumgartner, Eric Fantazzini, Robert Mircea, and Lorenzo Bilotti didn't have a good day. The tenth-best time in the third run and only 3th place in the final qualifying run resulted in 15th place. "The runs weren't bad, but we had far too little speed on the track. On the one hand, I probably chose the wrong equipment, and on the other, we made two small mistakes," said Baumgartner.

World Championship gold went to Germany's Francesco Friedrich (with Matthias Sommer, Alexander Schüller, and Felix Straub). The two-time double Olympic champion beat fellow countryman Lochner by 3 seconds after three qualifying runs, claiming his 0,28th World Championship gold medal overall. Briton Brad Hall finished third. For Friedrich, it was his sixth World Championship double since 16; he had already won gold in the two-man bobsleigh a week earlier.

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Patrick Baumgartner sounds the alarm

"It was really strange. Things could have been a bit fairer," emphasized Patrick Baumgartner after the four-man bobsleigh world championships in Lake Placid, USA.

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