Another strong showing from Hall & co
Brad Hall, Taylor Lawrence, Nick Gleeson and Greg Cackett ended 2021 with another strong showing in Altenberg this weekend.
Hall and his crew finished seventh in Sunday’s 4-man having placed ninth in the 2-man a day earlier.
Both results were World Cup PBs at the notoriously challenging German track and both were two spots better than they achieved in World Cup 3 here a fortnight ago.
Even more impressive were the start times in both disciplines, with the crew once again proving they are amongst the world’s fastest off the block no matter the start profile of the track.
Gleeson and Hall were the third and fourth fastest in the 2-man competition and the 4-man team went even better as they recorded the second quickest getaways in each of today’s two runs.
Only serial race winner Francesco Friedrich and his crew went quicker on Sunday, with the German once again taking gold on home ice, having done exactly the same on Saturday.
Canada’s Justin Kripps took 2-man bronze and 4-man silver, with Christoph Hafer second on Saturday and Rostislav Gaitukevich third on Sunday.
Lamin Deen, Sam Blanchet, Ben Simons and Joel Fearon finished 23rd for GB in the 4-man race after Deen and Toby Olubi had placed 25th in the 2-man.
In the women’s race, Mica McNeill and Montell Douglas were 17th, one place better than they were in Winterberg last week and two better than in Altenberg at the beginning of the month. McNeill didn’t compete in Saturday’s monobob.
The World Cup circuit now takes a week off before restarting with a trip to Sigulda immediately after Christmas. The teams then head to Winterberg for a second time, before the World Cup calendar concludes in St Moritz in mid January.
