Silver in Sigulda for Hall & Lawrence
Brad Hall and Taylor Lawrence bagged British Bobsleigh’s first medal of the World Cup season when they won silver in Sigulda on Sunday.
Hall and Lawrence clocked a combined time of 1 minute 39.45 seconds, beating reigning back-to-back Olympic Champion Francesco Friedrich into third and only finishing behind 2023 World Champion Johannes Lochner in Latvia.
Hall finished fourth with Greg Cackett in yesterday’s first race of a double 2-man weekend, having achieved the same result with Lawrence in the season opener in Altenberg eight days ago.
Today’s result marks the first 2-man medal for the team since January 2023 when Hall and Lawrence won silver in Altenberg.
“It’s great to be back on the podium. It’s always an amazing feeling and we’ve missed it, to be honest,” said Hall.
“We made a habit of it the year before last but last season was a really tough one with all the injuries the team I were hit with.
We came really close to a medal yesterday and last week so it’s awesome to be able to turn a big performance into a silver today.
“We’ve been consistent over both days here and Taylor was outstanding today - just as Greg was yesterday.
“It’s a really satisfying way to end the year and, hopefully, it’s the first of many medals this season.”
The Brits were the fourth fastest starters in Run 1 and the second quickest in Run 2, clocking 4.9 seconds on each occasion.
They trailed Lochner by just five hundredths of a second after the first heat (the same margin by which Hall and Cackett had missed a medal on Saturday) and they again recorded the second quickest run time in the second as they finished 0.21 behind Lochner and more than half a second clear of the Polish team in fourth.
The GB2 team led by Adam Baird didn’t enter today’s race, having instead headed to Igls for the Europa Cup 4-man competition, but they enjoyed a career best day on Saturday when Baird and Austin Milward secured a first-ever top ten finish at this level.
Baird and Milward, who was making just his second World Cup start, were just six hundredths outside the top eight as they jumped up eight spots from last week’s showing in Germany.
A serving Royal Marine like Lawrence, Baird outdrove his team’s start by three places in each heat as GB2 came down in a 2-run time of 1 minute 40.12, 0.48 seconds behind Hall and Cackett.
The bobsleigh and skeleton World Cup campaign now takes a break until the New Year, with the next races scheduled for Winterberg, Germany on January 3rd, 4th and 5th.
You can watch the action live via the IBSF website or YouTube channel and follow the results and reaction on the BBSA’s Facebook, Instagram and X accounts.
