NEW YORK, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Defending World Cup winner Francesco Friedrich of Germany won the second 2-man bobsleigh race of the 2019/20 IBSF World Cup in Lake Placid, the United States on Sunday.
With Alexander Schuller as his brakeman, the Olympic champion had to catch up in the second heat, chasing teammates Johannes Lochner and Christian Rasp who led after the first run. Friedrich and Schuller eventually managed to finish with a 0.23-second lead over Lochner and Rasp.
Lochner had finished ahead of Friedrich in the opening race in Lake Placid.
Olympic champion Justin Kripps of Canada and his brakeman Ben Coakwell once again finished third, 0.57 seconds back.
Fellow Americans Hunter Church and Kristopher Horn were in third place after the first heat, back on course for a podium finish. However, in a repeat of the opening race, the U.S. pairing ended up in fifth place.
Friedrich and Lochner are tied on 435 points at the top of the overall standings in the IBSF World Cup. With 400 points, Kripps is currently in third place.
The Chinese duos of Shao Yijun and Shi Hao, and Li Chunjian and Wu Zhitao finished in 13th and 14th places respectively out of 21 pairings.
Shao, who is ranked 13rd in the overall standings, is two places higher on Sunday than when he was paired with Liu Wei in the opening race on Saturday.
