Germany sweeps all five golds at IBSF World Cup in Yanqing

Beijing, Nov 20 : Pilot Johannes Lochner led his crew to clinch another 4-man bobsleigh gold on Sunday, as German racers grabbed all five golds at the IBSF World Cup in Yanqing, Beijing.

At the National Sliding Center, team Lochner and team Francesco Friedrich of Germany achieved a 1-2 finish in the 4-man bobsleigh on Saturday, while Sun Kaizhi, Zhen Heng, Ding Song, and Ye Jielong finished third to win the first medal for China in the event, reports Xinhua.

After the first run on Sunday, the two German teams still ranked as the top two in 58.22 and 58.25 seconds respectively.The Italian squad piloted by Patrick Baumgartner rallied in the second run to secure a silver with a total time of 1:56.92, just 0.01 second ahead of the bronze medalist team Friedrich.Team Lochner bagged the gold in 1:56.61.

Sun and his teammates ranked sixth, while another Chinese team, consisting of Li Chunjian, Wei Peng, Zhu Zilong, and Chi Xiangyu, finished eighth.

In other events, last seasons World Cup overall champion Tina Hermann of Germany claimed a victory in the womens skeleton, and her compatriot Christopher Grotheer, gold medalist of the Beijing Winter Olympics, won the mens skeleton.

The German pair Lochner and Georg Fleischhauer seized the gold in the 2-man bobsleigh.

Zhao Dan won a historic silver for China in the womens skeleton, while Chinas Chen Wenhao and Yan Wengang took the silver and bronze in the mens skeleton respectively.

bc/