GB 4th at halfway as they hunt history
Brad Hall and Taylor Lawrence sit fourth overnight as they chase a first 2-man Bobsleigh World Championship medal for 58 years.
No GB men’s team has won a 2-man medal since Olympic Champions Tony Nash and Robin Dixon celebrated bronze in Cortina in 1966.
Hall and Lawrence won the country’s first 4-man World Championship medal since 1939 when they took silver alongside Arran Gulliver and Greg Cackett in St Moritz last season and they are within striking distance of making more history this weekend.
Back surgery for Hall in the autumn meant he and Lawrence have had minimal ice time this season, leaving them with an unfavourable start draw of 16th, but the third and fourth best starts in each heat saw them come down fifth quickest in Run 1 and fourth fastest in Run 2.
The British number ones will have to make up just over a quarter of a second on their nearest rivals, however, with reigning World Champion Johannes Lochner directly above them as German sleds dominated on home ice.
Lochner is 0.27 seconds in front of Hall and Lawrence, with fellow Germans Adam Ammour and seven-time 2-man World Champion and back-to-back Olympic Champion, Francesco Friedrich in silver and gold medal positions.
Hall and Royal Marine Lawrence came down in a combined time of 1 minute 50 seconds, with race leaders Friedrich and Alexander Schuller 0.79 seconds quicker over two heats.
Fellow Brits John Stanbridge and Jens Hullah are 24th on their World Championship debuts, having come down in 1 minute 51.77.
Stanbridge, who broke his neck as recently as November 2022, is targeting a top 20 place over the first three runs to secure a spot in the fourth and final heat.
Run 3 begins tomorrow at 12.15pm GMT.
Earlier in the day, World Championship debutant Adele Nicoll once again showed her growing potential as she placed 10th at the halfway stage of the Women’s Monobob.
Nicoll, who is the back-to-back British Shot Putt Champion, only started driving after the Beijing Olympics but is well within the top half of a 26-strong field of the world’s best pilots.
The Welsh athlete clocked 58.89 and 58.96 seconds in her two runs and is just four hundredths from ninth place and nine hundredths off eighth ahead of tomorrow’s final two runs.
Germany’s Lisa Buckwitz leads from Elan Meyers Taylor of the United States and Australia’s Bree Walker.
Run 3 begins at 8.15am GMT.
This year’s World Championships take place in Winterberg, Germany from February 22nd - March 3rd, with the schedule as follows:
Thurs 22 Feb
Women's Skeleton Heats 1&2 9am
Men's Skeleton Heats 1&2 1pm
Fri 23 Feb
Women's Skeleton Heats 3&4 11am
Men's Skeleton Heats 3&4 3pm
Sat 24 Feb
Women's Monobob Heats 1&2 8am
2-man Bobsleigh Heats 1&2 12pm
Skeleton Mixed Team Competition 4pm
Sun 25 Feb
Women's Monobob Heats 3&4 8.15am
2-man Bobsleigh Heats 3&4 12.15pm
Fri 1 Mar
Women's Bobsleigh Heats 1&2 2pm
Sat 2 Mar
4-man Bobsleigh Heats 1&2 9am
Women's Bobsleigh Heats 3&4 1.30pm
Sun 3 Mar
4-man Bobsleigh Heats 3&4 1pm
All races will be shown live on the IBSF YouTube channel and website
