GENEVA, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Francesco Friedrich of Germany won the 2019/2020 BMW IBSF World Cup overall title after the final race in St. Moritz, Switzerland on Sunday, following a season-long battle with his teammate Johannes Lochner.
The world and Olympic champion and his brake crew of Candy Bauer, Martin Grothkopp and Thorsten Margis finished in fifth place, meaning the German wins the four-man overall title for the second consecutive year.
The World Cup race on the St. Moritz-Celerina Olympia Bobrun was won by Justin Kripps of Canada with Ryan Sommer, Cameron Stones and Benjamin Coakwell.
The Latvian team of pilot Oskars Kibermanis plus Lauris Kaufmanis, Arvis Vilkaste and Matiss Miknis took second place, while Germany's Lochner with Florian Bauer, Christopher Weber and Tobias Schneider finished third.
Lochner had led at the end of the first heat while Friedrich was back in seventh, a state of affairs that would have seen Lochner snatch the overall title.
However, by the end of the second heat, Friedrich had done enough to secure the overall victory with 1,686 points. Lochner had 1,649 points in second ahead of Kripps, who finished third with 1,603 points and grabbed his first ever top three finish in overall standings.
The Chinese team of Li Chunjian, Wu Qingze, Wu Zhitao and Chen Tianhong also made their mark in St. Moritz. The team from the hosts of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games ended the World Cup final in seventh place.
