German bobsledders dominate IBSF World Cup at Winterberg
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E-mail Xinhua, January 5, 2020
WINTERBERG, Germany, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- German bobsleigh squads occupied the top three places in both 2-women and 4-men races here on Saturday at IBSF World Cup at Winterberg.
In the 2-women competition, the World Championship runner-up Stephanie Schneider, racing with Kira Lipperheide as her brake athlete for the first time, celebrated the ninth World Cup victory of her career, finishing at one minute and 55.46 seconds.
In the nail-biting fight for the top three spots, the other two teams from the host Germany also delivered strong performances at the third stop of the World Cup tour this season.
The Olympic gold medalist Mariama Jamanka finished with 0.04 seconds back. Racing with Annika Drazek for the first time this winter, the defending World Cup title holder also celebrated her first podium finish of the season.
The Youth Olympic Champion Laura Nolte and her brake athlete Deborah Levi finished in third on her World Cup debut with 0.13 seconds back. The 20-year-old pushed the 2010 and 2014 Olympic champion Kaillie Humphries from the United States back into the fourth place.
After winning the first two races of the season, Humphries managed to defend her lead in the overall standings with 642 points. Schneider ranked second with 627 points ahead of Jamanka with 586 points.
In the 4-men event, Johannes Lochner, with his team of Florian Bauer, Christopher Weber and Christian Rasp, achieved the best time of one minute and 50.54 seconds to secure his fourth World Cup title.
Francesco Friedrich and his team, who claimed the title on Friday, missed the chance to complete his collection of gold medals with 0.02 seconds back. The third place went to Nico Walther and his teammates Paul Krenz, Kevin Korona and Eric Franke with 0.22 seconds back.
Friedrich climbed to the top of World Cup overall rankings with 827 points. Lochner followed in second with 819 points. Justin Kripps of Canada, who won the first two races of the season in Lake Placid, United States, finished sixth on Saturday, putting him in third place with 810 points. Enditem
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