Brits shine as Lochner and Bluhm take Koenigssee victory

Two blistering runs saw Lochner and Bluhm finish 0.23s clear on home ice, ahead of the rest of the field with both efforts, with no other pairing getting under 49.50s on both runs.

But the main drama was to come behind pilot Lochner and two-time World Championship runner-up Bluhm, as Steven Holcomb and Carlo Valdes of America, and Germany's Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis both stopped the clock in 1:38.77.

That saw the two pairs share second place on the podium, while the next four places were separated by one tenth of a second.

And behind that came a career-best World Cup performance from Britain's Bruce Tasker and Joel Fearon, finishing in eighth place – just over half a second off top spot.

The runner-up spot for Friedrich moved him to top position in the overall World Cup rankings on 1095 points, with Holcomb following him to runner-up spot 20 points adrift.

Russia's Alexey Stulnev, who finished fourth in Koenigssee, rounds off the top three on 1000 points.

"We ran a bit short in the first run," said Lochner. "In the second run, we wanted to try running a bit further just to try it out ahead of the World Championships.

"It didn't go well but then improved again. The atmosphere here at the finish line is amazing. We are looking forward to the World Championships!"

Sportsbeat 2017