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Francesco Friedrich (2nd from left) and his crew in the first European Championship round
Photo: FRIEDEMANN VOGEL / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock
Olympic champion Francesco Friedrich won the European title in the four-man bobsleigh for the first time and is now also the most successful pilot in World Cup history.
The record world champion prevailed in Winterberg with almost six tenths of a second ahead of Canadian Justin Kripps.
Benjamin Maier from Austria came third and won silver at the European Championships: The European Bobsleigh Championships are always counted as a World Cup; non-Europeans are removed from the ranking for the EM result.
Friedrich had already achieved André Lange's previous record of 45 World Cup victories with his two-man bobsleigh success on Saturday.
On Sunday, Friedrich left the four-time Olympic champion behind.
In Winterberg, Christoph Hafer came in sixth and thus fifth in the European Championship.
The day was a little disappointing for Johannes Lochner.
The Bavarian, last four-time European champion in a row, botched the first run and finished fourth in the European Championship.
For women, shooting star Laura Nolte continued her high-altitude flight on Saturday.
The 22-year-old won the European Championship on her home track and led a German triple victory: Kim Kalicki came second ahead of Olympic champion Mariama Jamanka.
The Austrian Katrin Beierl also drove to bronze at the same time as Jamanka.
The weekend was a season premiere in two respects. For the first time there was also a four-man race, and for the first time the drivers from North America competed.
After Friedrich's dominance in two-man races (eight wins in nine races of the season), the competition hoped for closer competition in the big sled, but Friedrich showed no nakedness here either.
The highlight of the season for bobsledding takes place in February, the World Championship in Altenberg.
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