Francesco Friedrich (born 2 May 1990) is a German bobsledder who has been active since 2006. At the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, he and his brakeman Thorsten Margis tied with Canada's Justin Kripps and Alexander Kopacz for the gold medal in the two-man competition.[3] Friedrich also won gold outright in the four-man event alongside Margis, Candy Bauer and Martin Grothkopp, making Friedrich the fifth German pilot to win two-man and four-man golds at the same Games, after Andreas Ostler in 1952, Meinhard Nehmer in 1976, Wolfgang Hoppe in 1984 and André Lange in 2006.[4] At the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, Friedrich and Margis again won the gold medal with both sleighs. Friedrich previously competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in the doubles and fours and finished in eighth and tenth place, respectively.[2]
He is the most successful athlete of the IBSF World Championships winning his first gold medal in the 2011 Königssee mixed team event. Between 2017 and 2021, he won all IBSF World Championships, two-man and four-man, increasing his number of titles to 13.
Career results
Olympic Games
| Event | Two-man | Four-man |
|---|---|---|
Representing  Germany
| ||
 2014 Sochi
|
6th[a] | 8th[a] |
 2018 Pyeongchang
|
1st[b] | 1st |
 2022 Beijing
|
1st | 1st |
- ^ a b Improved 2 ranks after disqualification of Russian bobs
- ^ Shared gold with Justin Kripps.
World Championships
| Event | Two-man | Four-man | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| Representing Germany
| |||
| 2011 Königssee
|
11th | – | 1st |
 2012 Lake Placid
|
4th | 9th | – |
 2013 St. Moritz
|
1st | 13th | 2nd |
| 2015 Winterberg
|
1st | 4th | 1st |
 2016 Innsbruck
|
1st | 2nd | – |
| 2017 Königssee
|
1st | 1st[a] | – |
 2019 Whistler
|
1st | 1st | – |
| 2020 Altenberg
|
1st | 1st | |
| 2021 Altenberg
|
1st | 1st | |
| 2023 St. Moritz
|
2nd | 1st | |
| 2024 Winterberg
|
1st | 1st | |
- ^ Shared gold with Johannes Lochner.
Bobsleigh World Cup
Two-man
| Season | Place | Points | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011–12 | 27th | 304 |  – |
 – |
 – |
– |
– |
 DSQ |
 11 |
7 |
— | — | — | — | ||
| 2012–13 | 6th | 1369 |  3 |
3 |
3 |
– |
– |
1 |
3 |
3 |
 10 |
— | — | — | ||
| 2013–14 | 3rd | 1400 | 6 |
3 |
7 |
9 |
5 |
3 |
4 |
12 |
— | — | — | — | ||
| 2014–15 | 4th | 1429 | 1 |
2 |
5 |
7 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
— |
— | — | — | — | ||
| 2015–16 | 6th | 1275 | 1 |
1 |
1 |
8 |
DNF |
16 |
10 |
3 |
— | — | — | — | ||
| 2016–17 | 1st | 1545 | 1 |
— |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
 1 |
— | — | — | — | ||
| 2017–18 | 2nd | 1504 | 9 |
9 |
13 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
— | — | — | — | ||
| 2018–19 | 1st | 1800 |  1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
— | — | — | — | ||
| 2019–20 | 1st | 1530 | 2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
— |
— | — | — | — | ||
| 2020–21 | 1st | 2685 | 1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 | ||
| 2021–22 | 1st | 1703 | 1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
12 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
— | — | — | — | ||
| 2022–23 | 2nd | 1656 | 1 |
1 |
2 |
6 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
— | — | — | — | ||
| 2023–24 | 1st | 1675 |  2 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
 2 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
— | |||||
| 2024–25 | 1st | 1310 | 1 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
|
|
— | |||||
Four-man
| Season | Place | Points | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011–12 | 27th | 272 | – |
– |
– |
– |
– |
10 |
– |
12 |
— | ||
| 2012–13 | 19th | 624 | 5 |
13 |
10 |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
6 | ||
| 2013–14 | 7th | 1400 | 13 |
15 |
14 |
2 |
2 |
11 |
9 |
5 |
— | ||
| 2014–15 | 5th | 1310 | 14 |
2 |
6 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
— |
— | ||
| 2015–16 | 2nd | 1570 | 1 |
1 |
4 |
6 |
7 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
— | ||
| 2016–17 | 7th | 1224 | 12 |
— |
3 |
5 |
3 |
5 |
4 |
11 |
— | ||
| 2017–18 | 2nd | 1468 | 9 |
4 |
12 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
— | ||
| 2018–19 | 1st | 1727 | 2 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
— | ||
| 2019–20 | 1st | 1686 | 4 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
— | ||
| 2020–21 | 1st | 900 | 1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2021–22 | 1st | 1785 | 1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
— | ||
| 2022–23 | 1st | 1737 | 1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
— | ||
| 2023–24 | 1st | 1745 | 2 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
— | ||
| 2024–25 | 1st | 1095 | 1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
|
|
|
— |
References
- ^ a b c d "Francesco Friedrich". IBSF. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
- ^ a b Francesco Friedrich Archived 2 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine. sports-reference.com
- ^ "Canada's Kripps, Kopacz tie Germany for 2-man bobsleigh gold". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 19 February 2018. Archived from the original on 19 February 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
- ^ "Germany's Francesco Friedrich wins four-man bobsledding gold". BT Sport ESPN. 25 February 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
External links
- Francesco Friedrich at IBSF
- Francesco Friedrich at Olympics.com
- Francesco Friedrich at the German Olympic Sports Confederation (in German)
- Francesco Friedrich at Olympedia
- Francesco Friedrich at the Bob und Schlittenverband Deutschland (in German)
