2-man team win Overall World Cup bronze
Great Britain are celebrating another Overall World Cup medal in sliding sports after Brad Hall piloted his 2-man bobsleigh team to bronze.
Hall and his breakmen, Taylor Lawrence (who competed in six races) and Greg Cackett (who pushed Hall twice), finished third in the season standings after points from all eight races were added together for a final tally.
Hall, Lawrence and Cackett ended the World Cup campaign on 1530 points, 40 clear of Adam Ammour in fourth and only behind the two leading German sleds, Francesco Friedrich, who claimed a seventh 2-man overall title, and Johannes Lochner, who won Saturday’s final race in Lillehammer.
Hall and Lawrence finished fifth in today’s event in a two-run time of 1 minute 41.61 seconds, ensuring they maintained their record of never being outside the top six all season. They won silver in Sigulda in December and bronze in Lillehammer last week and were fourth on three occasions, as well as fifth twice and sixth once.
Hall and co match their achievement from two seasons ago when they became the first ever British men to win an Overall World Cup medal in the 2-man discipline since the competition began back in 1983.
They become the latest Brits to celebrate Overall World Cup success across the last fortnight after they followed skeleton sliders Matt Weston and Marcus Wyatt, who won gold and silver respectively, and Corie Mapp, who took his second successive para bobsleigh title at the turn of the month.
More medals could follow tomorrow as GB look to cement their current second place in the 4-man standings and third in the combined competition. Hall, Lawrence, Arran Gulliver and Leon Greenwood go for GB at mid-day GMT, aiming to defend their narrow lead over Lochner and close the gap on Friedrich in the final race of the World Cup campaign.
“It’s great to be back on the overall podium,” said Hall. “It means a lot to us all.
Last year was a tough one with all the injuries but we’ve bounced back and shown that this is where we belong.
“We’ve been consistent all year and that’s a definitely a good place to be ahead of the World Championships next month and the Olympics next year.
“We know we’re up against it in the 2-man with how strong the Germans are so we’re really pleased with bronze. Now the aim is do even better when we finish the 4-man tomorrow.”
Fellow Brits Adam Baird and Jens Hullah placed 16th in today’s race in a time of 1 minute 42.97 seconds in Hullah’s first World Cup 2-man appearance of the season. It means Baird finished 17th in the season standings, having competed in seven of the eight races in his first full year on the World Cup circuit.
In the women’s monobob, Adele Nicoll saved her best performance for the final World Cup competition of the campaign as she finished ninth in Norway.
Nicoll clocked 1 minute 49.35 seconds to secure her first monobob top ten of the season & equal her best-ever result in that discipline.
The 27-year-old sat 13th after the first run but a superb final heat saw her go seventh fastest second time around.
The result matched Nicoll’s ninth spot in Igls in December 2023 and meant she finished 17th in the overall rankings despite missing two of the eight races through injury.
Australia’s Bree Walker won gold from of Canadian Cynthia Appiah and Germany’s Lisa Buckwitz.
Buckwitz took the overall title ahead of Walker, with reigning World Champion Laura Nolte in third.
