Patrick Baumgartner showed strongly. © Viesturs Lacis

Patrick Baumgartner's season starts with a bang

He has been the best bobsledder in South Tyrol for years. Now Patrick Baumgartner has put a big exclamation mark at the start of the new season.

17 November 2023

From:
Thomas Debelyak

The Bobsleigh World Cup opens this weekend in Yanqing, China. In the first competition - the two-man bobsleigh - Patrick Baumgartner caused quite a stir: with his brakeman Robert Mircea, the man from Palatinate landed in 4th place. Although the duo narrowly missed the podium, there was great joy afterwards: for Baumgartner it was the best World Cup result his career – this is how the season can start!

“It's a wonderful placement, we gave it our all and hope that we can have a say in the next few days,” Baumgartner is quoted as saying on the website of the Italian Winter Sports Association. At the halfway point of the race, the Pusterer was still in 5th place, but in the decision he moved up one place with brakeman Mircea.

At the top, Germany celebrated a double victory: Johannes Lochner/Georg Fleischhauer were unbeatable, Francesco Friedrich/Alexander Schüller finished 62 hundredths of a second behind. Third place went to the Swiss Michael Vogt/Sandro Michel, who were 0,90 seconds behind. Baumgartner crossed the finish line 1,54 seconds ahead of the winners.