Patrick Baumgartner is causing a sensation in China

Patrick Baumgartner writes sports history: The bobsleigh pilot from Palatinate sensationally raced onto the podium in the four-man bobsleigh at the World Cup on the Olympic track in Yanqing (China) on Sunday.

19 November 2023

From: zor

Perfect end to the Bobsleigh World Cup opener for Patrick Baumgartner. The 28-year-old already impressed in the two-man bobsleigh and in the four-man event on Saturday. On Sunday, the Palatinate player caused a sensation. After the first run, Baumgartner was already in third place. In the deciding run, the South Tyrolean and his pushers Lorenzo Bilotti, Eric Fantazzini and Robert Mircea improved to second place. A side detail: Olympic champion Francesco Friedrich (GER) came third, a hundredth of a second behind Baumgartner , who is 1 seconds behind the winner Johannes Lochner (GER).

This means that the Azzurri are returning to the podium in the four-man bobsleigh 18 years after Simone Bertazzo in Lake Placid. For Patrick Baumgartner, it is of course the best career result to date in both the two-man and four-man bobsleigh.

Patrick Baumgartner (l.) and his teammates on the podium.

Baumgartner is on the verge of following in the footsteps of local bobsleigh legends Günther Huber (Olympic champion in two-man bobsleigh in 1998) and Gerda Weißensteiner (Olympic bronze in two-man bobsleigh in 2006).

Result of four-man bobsleigh Yanqing (19.11.2023/XNUMX/XNUMX):

Pos	Name	Time
1.	Germany – Lochner	1.56,61 Minutes
2.	Italy – Baumgartner	+0,31 seconds
3.	Germany – Frederick	+0,32
4.	Latvia – Cipulis	+0,62
5.	Switzerland – Vogt	+0,66
6.	China-Sun	+0,75
7.	Austria – Treichl	+0,87
8.	China – Li	+1,06
9.	Latvia – Calendar	+1,08
10.	Switzerland – Follador	+1,38