GB in 4-man medal mix despite cancellation
Great Britain are on track for just a second 4-man bobsleigh World Championship medal since the Second World War after the first of two days of racing in Lake Placid.
Brad Hall, Arran Gulliver, Taylor Lawrence and Greg Cackett are in third place ahead of Saturday’s final two runs as they look to repeat their medal winning feat from two seasons ago when they took silver to become the first 4-man team to make the podium in 84 years.
Third place initially looked like it would be second at halfway, however, with an outstanding second run seeing Hall and co go quickest of all the sleds and open up a half second lead between themselves and Adam Ammour in third.
They had cut the gap on leader and six-time 4-man champion Francesco Friedrich to 0.29 seconds before the race jury ruled that the second heat should be cancelled due to ‘track conditions’.
The decision came after an appeal was lodged by the German federation on behalf Johannes Lochner, after the 2-man silver medalist had slipped to joint sixth after the second run, fully 1.10 seconds behind the Brits. The appeal related to apparent runner damage suffered late in the second run, with the jury initially ruling that Lochner should get a rerun before instead deciding to cancel the entire completed heat.
The British Bobsleigh & Skeleton Association lodged an official protest and requested a full explaination from the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation but, at the time of writing, are yet to receive a response.*
With Run 2 cancelled, Lochner sits two hundredths ahead of Hall and his team in the silver medal spot at the end of Day One, with GB 0.33 seconds in front of Ammour and a further six hundredths clear of home favourite Frank Del Duca in fifth.
Runs 3 and 4 take place tomorrow at 12pm GMT.
In the women’s bobsleigh, Adele Nicoll and World Championship debutant Ashleigh Nelson sit 17th at halfway.
The British pair clocked a two-run time of 1 minute 55.96 seconds, coming down in 57.99 seconds in Run 1 and 57.96 in Run 2.
Germany occupy all the medal places as things stand, with Olympic Champion Laura Nolte clocking 1 minute 52.77 seconds to lead by 0.23 seconds from Kim Kalicki and 0.43 from Lisa Buckwitz ahead of tomorrow’s final two runs at 5pm GMT.
*Since writing, the IBSF has released the following statement regarding the cancellation of the second run in the men's 4-man race:
'During the IBSF Bobsleigh World Championships in Lake Placid 2025, the IBSF jury canceled the second of four runs in the men’s four-man bobsleigh competition. The reason for this decision was that a section of a curve was missing ice, causing Team Lochner’s sled to run over concrete. This resulted in significant scratches on one of the runners.
'The German team subsequently lodged a protest and invoked Article 10.6.11 of the International Bobsleigh Rules. This rule allows the jury to grant a team a rerun if a malfunction occurs that was not caused by the team itself. Initially, Team Lochner was granted a rerun, taking into account the preparation and warm-up time. However, due to rising temperatures and the time required for proper preparation, the jury concluded that due to the time delay the track conditions would not allow for a fair rerun for Team Lochner. As a result, the entire second run was canceled.
'The competition will resume tomorrow as planned with heats 3 and 4.'
World Championship schedule
All times are GMT
Thurs 6 & Fri 7 Mar
Men's Skeleton: Weston 1st; Wyatt 2nd; Bostock 18th
Women's Skeleton: Stoecker 8th; Coltman 14th; Tarbit 18th
Sat 8 & Sun 9 Mar
2-man Bobsleigh: Hall & Lawrence 6th; Baird & Butterworth DNF
Women's monobob: Nicoll 16th
Sun 9 Mar
Skeleton Team Event: Stoecker & Weston 2nd; Coltman & Wyatt DSQ
Fri 14 Mar
4-man Bobsleigh Runs 1&2 1pm
Women's Bobsleigh Runs 1&2 6pm
Sat 15 Mar
4-man Bobsleigh Runs 3&4 1pm
Women's Bobsleigh Runs 3&4 6pm
