Francesco Friedrich

Francesco Friedrich
Full name	Francesco Friedrich
nation	Germany
birthday	2nd May 1990 (age 30)
place of birth	Pirna ,  GDR
size	183 cm
Weight	92 kg
job	Federal policeman
Career
position	pilot
society	BSC Sachsen Oberbärenburg
Trainer	Gerd Leopold
National squad	since 2010
status	active
Medal table
Olympic medals 2 × 0 × 0 × World Cup medals 11 × 2 × 0 × EM medals 6 × 2 × 4 × JWM medals 3 × 1 × 0 ×
winter Olympics gold Pyeongchang 2018 two gold Pyeongchang 2018 four  Bobsleigh World Championships gold Königssee 2011 team gold St. Moritz 2013 two silver St. Moritz 2013 team gold Winterberg 2015 two gold Winterberg 2015 team gold Igls 2016 two silver Igls 2016 four gold Königssee 2017 two gold Königssee 2017 four gold Whistler 2019 two gold Whistler 2019 four gold Altenberg 2020 two gold Altenberg 2020 four  European bobsleigh championships bronze Igls 2013 two bronze Koenigssee 2014 four gold La Plagne 2015 two bronze La Plagne 2015 four gold Winterberg 2017 two gold Igls 2018 two silver Igls 2018 four gold Königssee 2019 two bronze Königssee 2019 four silver Winterberg 2020 four gold Winterberg 2021 two gold Winterberg 2021 four  Bobsleigh Junior World Championships gold Park City 2011 two silver Park City 2011 four gold Igls 2013 two gold Igls 2013 four
Placements in the Bobsleigh World Cup
Debut in the World Cup January 21, 2012 in St. Moritz  World Cup victories 46  Overall World Cup two 1. ( 2016/17 , 2018/19 , 2019/20 )  Overall World Cup foursome 1. ( 2018/19 , 2019/20 )  Overall World Cup combination 1. ( 2016/17 , 2018/19 , 2019/20 )
Podium placements 1. 2. 3.  Two-man bobsleigh 34 10 8th  Four-man bobsleigh 12 9 8th
last change: January 10, 2021

Francesco Friedrich (born May 2, 1990 in Pirna ) is a German bobsleigh driver . Together with Eugenio Monti, he is record world champion as well as double Olympic champion 2018 in the two-man and four-man bobsleigh . He has also achieved the most World Cup victories so far .

Career

Francesco Friedrich came to bobsleigh through athletics. At the German junior championships in the 2007/08 season, Friedrich took 8th place in the two-man bobsleigh. His first major successes came in 5th (two-man bobsleigh) and 6th place (four-man bobsleigh) in the 2009/10 European Cup season on his home track in Altenberg . The breakthrough to the top of the world came with the junior world championship title in two and second place in four (with brother David) at the 2011 Junior World Championship in Park City . In the same year he was able to record his first major success at the world championships in Königssee by winning the team world championship title. He also won the overall two-man bobsleigh in the 2011 European Cup . In the 2011/12 season, Francesco Friedrich secured all three overall victories in the European Cup (two-man, four-man bobsleigh and combination) and was able to make his World Cup debut in St. Moritz due to the absence of Thomas Florschütz . At the 2012 World Championships in Lake Placid he achieved a very good 4th place in the two-man bobsleigh and 9th place in the four-man bobsleigh.

At the Junior World Championship 2012/13, which was held for the second time within a calendar year in Innsbruck / Igls due to the track closure in Cesana, Italy, Friedrich won gold in both competitions. In winter 2012/13 he also achieved his first podium places in the World Cup with one win and five third places in the two-man bobsleigh. At the World Championships in St. Moritz, he won gold in two with Jannis Bäcker , making him the youngest two-man bobsleigh world champion in history. In the 2013/14 Bobsleigh World Cup , he made it onto the podium for the first time with two second places in Winterberg, including in a four-man bobsleigh, and finished third in the overall World Cup in the two-man bobsleigh. Friedrich won the bronze medal in the four-man bobsleigh at the 2014 European Bobsleigh Championships with Alexander Mann , Gregor Bermbach and Thorsten Margis . In the Olympic Games of Sochi , he was eighth in the two-man and four-man Tenth in.

In the 2014/15 World Cup , Friedrich won three races in two and achieved five more podium places. At the European Championships in La Plagne , he was European champion in the two-man bobsleigh with Martin Grothkopp and took third place in the four-man bobsleigh. At the 2015 World Championships in Winterberg , he defended his title in the two-man bobsleigh by over a second. He also secured the gold medal in the team competition. At the first World Cup of the 2015/16 season in Altenberg, he won both in two and for the first time in his career in four. He was able to repeat this double success a week later in Winterberg.

At the 2016 Bobsleigh World Championships in Igls, he won gold in a pair with Thorsten Margis; in the foursome he fell just behind the team of Oskars Melbārdis after the fourth run and was runner-up in the world championship 0.04 seconds behind. At the 2017 European Bobsleigh Championships in Winterberg, he won gold in a pair with Thorsten Margis. At the 2017 Bobsleigh World Championships in Königssee, he became world champion in a two-man four-man and in a four-man - at the same time as Johannes Lochner - for the first time. In the same year he won overall World Cup rankings for the first time in the two-man bobsleigh and in combination . At the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang , Friedrich and Margis won an Olympic medal for the first time with the gold medal in the two-man bobsleigh - together with the Canadians Kripps / Kopacz at the same time . Friedrich also secured the Olympic victory in the four-man bobsleigh, this time with a clear lead of 0.53 seconds.

In the World Cup season 2018/19 Friedrich won all three ratings. With eight wins he was the first athlete to be successful in all races of the season in a two-man race. At the World Championships in Whistler , he won the title in the two-man bobsleigh for the fifth time in a row, which was previously only achieved by the Italian Eugenio Monti from 1957 to 1961. He also won the gold medal in the foursome despite a torn hamstring in the first round, making him the first bobsleigh pilot to achieve the “double hat trick” (gold medal in two and four at three successive major events - World Cup – Olympic – World Cup ), and the second after Eugenio Monti in 1961, who won the World Cup double. Compared to Monti, however, he managed this with the same crew. In addition, he set a new world speed record in bobsleigh with 157.06 km / h.

Also in the 2019/20 season Friedrich was the outstanding pilot, won all World Cup rankings and again both World Cup titles.

In the 2020/21 season he was victorious in both competitions at the European Championship , including the first time in a foursome. Since the European Championship in bobsleigh is always rated as a World Cup, he surpassed the previous record of his compatriot André Lange with his 46th victory .

Placements by season

season	World cup			WM			EM		OS
	four	two	Comb.	four	two	team	four	two	four	two
2010/11	-	-	-	-	11.	1.	-	-
2011/12	-	27.	26th	9.	4th	-	-	-
2012/13	19th	6th	12.	13.	1.	2.	-	3.
2013/14	7th	3.	6th				3.	6th	10.	8th.
2014/15	5.	4th	4th	4th	1.	1.	3.	1.
2015/16	2.	6th	4th	2.	1.	-	4th	8th.
2016/17	7th	1.	1.	1.	1.	-	5.	1.
2017/18	2.	2.	2.				2.	1.	1.	1.
2018/19	1.	1.	1.	1.	1.	-	3.	1.
2019/20	1.	1.	1.	1.	1.		2.	-
2020/21							1.	1.

World Cup victories

Two-man bobsleigh

Four-man bobsleigh

No. date place train 1. 0Jan. 3, 2013  Altenberg DKB ice channel 2. 0Dec 5, 2014  Lake Placid Olympic bobsleigh track Lake Placid 3. Jan. 30, 2015  La Plagne La Plagne bobsleigh and sled run 4th 0Feb 6, 2015  Innsbruck-Igls Igls artificial ice rink, bobsleigh 5. Nov 28, 2015  Altenberg DKB ice channel 6th 0Dec 5, 2015  Winterberg Winterberg bobsleigh run 7th Dec 12, 2015  Koenigssee Combined artificial ice rink at Königssee 8th. 0Dec 2, 2016  Whistler Whistler Sliding Center 9. 0Jan. 7, 2017  Altenberg DKB ice channel 10. Jan. 14, 2017  Winterberg Winterberg bobsleigh run 11. 04th Feb 2017  Innsbruck-Igls Igls artificial ice rink, bobsleigh 12. 18th March 2017  Pyeongchang Olympic Sliding Center 13. 16 Dec 2017  Innsbruck-Igls Igls artificial ice rink, bobsleigh 14th Jan. 20, 2018  Koenigssee Combined artificial ice rink at Königssee 15th 0Dec 8, 2018  Sigulda Sigulda luge and bobsleigh track 16. 0Dec 9, 2018  Sigulda Sigulda luge and bobsleigh track 17th 0Jan. 6, 2019  Altenberg DKB ice channel 18th Jan. 12, 2019  Koenigssee Koenigssee artificial ice rink 19th Jan. 19, 2019  Innsbruck-Igls Igls artificial ice rink, bobsleigh 20th Jan. 26, 2019  St. Moritz Olympia Bobrun St. Moritz – Celerina 21st 16 Feb 2019  Lake Placid Olympic bobsleigh track Lake Placid 22nd 23 Feb 2019  Calgary Bobsleigh and sled run in Canada Olympic Park 23 0Dec 8, 2019  Lake Placid Olympic bobsleigh track Lake Placid 24. Jan. 11, 2020  La Plagne La Plagne bobsleigh and sled run 25th Jan. 18, 2020  Innsbruck-Igls Igls artificial ice rink, bobsleigh 26th Jan 25, 2020  Koenigssee Koenigssee artificial ice rink 27. Nov 21, 2020  Sigulda Sigulda luge and bobsleigh track 28. Nov 22, 2020  Sigulda Sigulda luge and bobsleigh track 29 Nov 28, 2020  Sigulda Sigulda luge and bobsleigh track 30th Nov 29, 2020  Sigulda Sigulda luge and bobsleigh track 31. Dec 13, 2020  Innsbruck-Igls Igls artificial ice rink, bobsleigh 32. 19 Dec 2020  Innsbruck-Igls Igls artificial ice rink, bobsleigh 33. Dec 20, 2020  Innsbruck-Igls Igls artificial ice rink, bobsleigh 34. 0Jan. 9, 2021  Winterberg Winterberg bobsleigh run

No. date place train 1. Nov 29, 2015  Altenberg DKB ice channel 2. 0Dec 6, 2015  Winterberg Winterberg bobsleigh run 3. 16 Dec 2018  Winterberg Winterberg bobsleigh run 4th 0Jan. 6, 2019  Altenberg DKB ice channel 5. Jan. 19, 2019  Innsbruck-Igls Igls artificial ice rink, bobsleigh 6th Jan. 27, 2019  St. Moritz Olympia Bobrun St. Moritz – Celerina 7th Feb. 24, 2019  Calgary Bobsleigh and sled run in Canada Olympic Park 8th. 0Jan. 3, 2020  Winterberg Winterberg bobsleigh run 9. Jan. 12, 2020  La Plagne La Plagne 10. Jan. 19, 2020  Innsbruck-Igls Igls artificial ice rink, bobsleigh 11. Jan. 26, 2020  Koenigssee Koenigssee artificial ice rink 12. Jan 10, 2021  Winterberg Winterberg bobsleigh run

Private

Francesco Friedrich has been married since August 2014 and has two sons. He has been a member of the federal police's elite sport promotion group since 2011 and lives in his native Pirna.

Friedrich's brother David was also a bobsleigh driver. He had a serious fall in 2006 and 2007 and interrupted his career. Between 2009 and 2012 he competed in several international races, v. a. in the European Cup .

Web links

Commons : Francesco Friedrich  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Francesco Friedrich in the database of the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation
• Francesco Friedrich in the Olympedia.org database (English)
• Profile on the BSD website
• Results at the-sports.org (English)
• Official website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ David Friedrich races to silver medal with brother Francesco . bild.de. February 8, 2011. Retrieved September 26, 2012.
2. ↑ World Cup debut for Friedrich . spox.de. January 18, 2012. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
3. ↑ Pirnaer is Germany's greatest bobsleigh talent . bild.de. January 21, 2012. Retrieved September 26, 2012.
4. ↑ 10.12.-16.12.12: FIBT Junior World Championships Igls (AUT) . bsd-portal.de. Archived from the original on December 8, 2015. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
5. ↑ ^{a b} "Frederick the Great" new leader in the German bobsleigh . wn.de. December 11, 2014. Accessed November 30, 2015.
6. ↑ Official Results 4 Man Bob . bsd-portal.de. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
7. ↑ Eight wins in eight races. SZ.de, February 24, 2019.
8. ↑ Record set: Friedrich for the fifth time two-man world champion. Focus Online, March 3, 2019.
9. ↑ Unbeatable: Bobsleigh pilot Friedrich manages the double hat trick. Zeit Online, March 10, 2019.
10. ↑ First European Championship title for Francesco Friedrich in the four-man bobsleigh - World Cup record broken . In: deutschlandfunk.de, January 12, 2021 (accessed January 13, 2021).
11. ^ Farewell to the man of the first title. Retrieved December 2, 2019 . 
12. ^ Federal Police - Our athletes - Francesco Friedrich . bundespolizei.de. Archived from the original on December 8, 2015. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
13. ↑ David Friedrich gets off the bob . focus.de. November 26, 2006. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
14. ↑ Junior bobsleigh pilot, David Friedrich injured again after another fall. . live-wintersport.com. November 24, 2006. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
15. ↑ IBSF | David Friedrich. Retrieved October 22, 2019 .