Lange wins world title

Switzerland's Ivo Rueegg took the silver, while Italy's Simone Bertazzo won bronze.

After winning the silver medal at the Calgary world championships last year, Lange reclaimed his world title from the 2003 Lake Placid worlds.

The 33-year-old German won two gold medals at last year's Turin Olympics.

With the fastest time in the third run and the third-fastest in the final run, Germany won with a four-run time of 4:26.62.

Despite losing his brakeman Alexandr Streltsov to a hamstring injury on the final run, Rueegg and Tommy Herzog still managed to post a track record of 1:06.22 in Switzerland's last attempt to maintain the silver-medal position.

American Steve Holcomb finished fourth, Switzerland's Daniel Schmid fifth, and Austria's Wolfgang Stampfer sixth.