Friedrich and Schueller win two-man opener in Whistler

Francesco Friedrich and Alexander Schueller were victorious in the first two-man bobsleigh World Cup event of the season in Whistler, Canada.

The German duo finished on top in both legs, going down in 51.03 seconds in the first and backing that up with a time of 51.19s in the second.

They were pushed all the way by British pair Brad Hall and Lawrence Taylor who were just 0.01 seconds behind the eventual winners at the halfway stage, eventually having to settle for second after losing another 0.10 seconds the second time round.

Hall and Taylor finished a comparatively comfortable second, 0.35 seconds ahead of third place Johannes Lochner and Erec Bruckert of Germany, on what was an excellent day for German bobsleigh.

They edged out Swiss pair Michael Vogt and Michel Sandro by just 0.02 seconds to get onto the podium.

Taylor Austin and Shaq Murray-Lawrence finished sixth for the hosts, 0.80s behind the winning team.