Walther opens season with nail-biting victory

Soft ice denied the chance of the season getting underway last weekend, with Walther making up for lost time in expert style in the first of two four-man bobsleigh races in this meet in Utah.

Teaming up with Kevin Kuske, Christian Poser and Eric Franke, the Germans' consistency was to be their key as they stopped the clock in a total time of 1:36.80 from their two runs.

But it was to be an incredibly narrow win, the Canadian team led by Justin Kripps finishing just 0.03 seconds off the pace after a storming second run.

They were joined by Canadian compatriots on the podium, with Chris Spring's team finishing narrowly behind as the top six were separated by just a tenth of a second.

Great Britain's Lamin Deen, Benjamin Simons, Toby Olubi and Joel Fearon finished eighth, with the second event of the weekend to come on Saturday evening.

World champion Johannes Lochner had led after the first effort, but a disappointing last effort saw him finish fourth – 0.01s away from a medal. Sportsbeat 2017