Gold for Johannes Lochner as Bradley Hall helps make bobsleigh history for Britain
BySportsbeat
Updated 19/11/2017 at 22:03 GMT
World champion Johannes Lochner rose to the challenge as he steered Germany to victory in the 4-man bobsleigh in a competition which saw Bradley Hall secure a history podium finish for Great Britain.
Pilot Bradley Hall of Great Britain celebrates with Bruce Tasker, Samuel Blanchet and Gregory Cackett in the 4-man Bobsleigh
Image credit: Getty Images
Pilot Hall, along with brake team Bruce Tasker, Joel Fearon and Gregory Cackett, had been leading the standings at the half-way stage after an impressive run of 47.37 seconds.
This came just 24 hours after they failed to make the cut in the rearranged opening World Cup race, finishing 22nd overall.
But having put the pressure on their rivals, the Brits waited patiently as the other teams took to the track with Lochner, fourth fastest in the first run, laying down the gauntlet.
Lochner, Marc Rademacher, Christopher Weber and Christian Rasp stopped the clock at 1:35.44 overall to initially take top spot.
The US squad of Codie Bascue, Nathan Weber, Carlo Valdes and Sam McGuffie then attempted to better it on their run but came up short by five hundredths of a second.
All eyes were then on team Hall, who held a 0.17 advantage from the first run, but the Brits were only fast enough for third, just over two tenths of a second off victory.
It was a still a best result for Great Britain since December 2013 when John James Jackson – whose squad also featured Tasker and Fearon with Stuart Benson – finished second in Lake Placid.
"I genuinely believe this is a true reflection of how this team is," said GB Bobsleigh head coach Lee Johnston, who also saw his second team, led by Lamin Deen, finish sixth.
We have some of the best athletes in the world; we have two top drivers who are providing competition for each other; the mood is excellent and there is a great camaraderie in the camp.
"We had an awful day on Friday in terms of Brad missing the cut in the first race of the weekend so for him and his crew to bounce back says a huge amount about their character.
"We've still got work to do but we're definitely making progress. One swallow doesn't make a summer but this is a big step towards where we want to be come the Olympics.
"I've been in the sport a long time and this is a pretty special day for the team. I've always believed we could get two teams in the top 10 and these results have gone a long way to showing what's possible."
Following the second of eight races in the World Cup season, Lochner leads the overall standings on 417 points with Chris Spring - fifth in Park City – second on 384 ahead of Bascue on 378 points.
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