'We don’t want a smaller bobsleigh family' - German Francesco Friedrich funds rival team Austria
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Updated 11/02/2022 at 13:48 GMT
Austrian bobsledder Benjamin Maier admits he was "struggling to finance" his hopes of Olympic success before a crowdfunding campaign was noticed by German pilot Francesco Friedrich, who has since become a main sponsor. The pair are getting ready to go head-to-head in the two-man and four-man events at the Winter Olympics in Beijing, with Friedrich hoping to land the third gold medal of his career.
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German bobsledder Francesco Friedrich - who is the most successful pilot in World Cup history - says he helped Austrian rider Benjamin Maier with financial support to avoid the “bobsleigh family” getting smaller.
The pair will be rivals on the track when they compete for Olympic success in Beijing.
In fact, Maier was just 0.2 seconds slower than Friedrich in the two-man training heats, but he may not have been able to compete had it not been for the German.
“Bobsleigh is a very expensive sport and you need a lot of sponsors”, Maier told Eurosport.
“A couple of years ago we did not have any sponsors and we were struggling to finance our season, so we started a crowdfunding campaign”, he said.
Having heard about their plea for funds, Friedrich wanted to get involved, saying “he needed to have the money for his season, so we give a donation to him. After the donation, it’s getting a little bit higher for sponsorship.”
The relationship between the pair - who were both flag carriers for their countries at the opening ceremony - has continued to grow, with a more permanent arrangement now in place.
“Back then Francesco started, more out of a joke, to support us. Then we got talking, and talking, and it kind of developed into an actual sponsorship. As of right now, he’s the longest sponsor we’ve ever had”, a grateful Maier explained to Eurosport.
This is amazing. It’s huge for us.
“Even next to the financial aspect of it, he’s helping us with some tip and tricks here and there and we’re really thankful for that” he said.
Friedrich and Maier were both on the podium at last year’s World Championships with Germany edging ahead of Austria to take a fourth title in the 4-man bobsleigh, with the Austrians settling for silver.
The German pilot says it is important that people in the sport get behind each other, with funding hard to come by.
“We help the other nations because in Germany, all junior driver gets so good material and the other guys have to pay it all for himself. We don’t want the bobsleigh family go smaller so we did it in other nations who don’t have this much resources”, he said.
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