Deen and Fearon 14th on debut drive

Lamin Deen’s debut drive in Altenberg saw Great Britain finish 14th in the 2-man bobsleigh BMW IBSF World Cup opener in Germany.

Having started 17th of 23 sleds, Deen and fellow Olympian Joel Fearon were 16th after the first run in increasingly difficult conditions in Germany in a race that was eventually won by home crew Francesco Freidrich and Thorsten Margis.

Fearon was making his first appearance for Great Britain since the last Olympics in Sochi after taking a season out to return to athletics and he and Deen registered the 13th fastest start time of the top 20 crews as the snow fell almost continuously.

Fellow Brits Olly Biddulph and Jordan Smallin produced a top ten start to give themselves a real chance of making it through to the second heat but they fell back to 23rd and missed out on another run as a result.

Both Biddulph and Smallin are young enough to compete in the Junior World Championships, though, and will have a learnt a great deal from the experience in what was a highly competitive race that saw three German sleds finish in the top five.

Elsewhere, in European Cup action, GB Bobsleigh finished sixth in the women’s race in Winterberg courtesy of Mica McNeil and Aleasha Kiddle, while Brad Hall and Paul Judson led the way for the four British crews taking part in the second men’s EC race of the weekend.

Hall and Judson were 12th in the 2-man, with John Jackson and Jonny Anderson 14th on Jackson’s second race since returning from a long-term Achilles injury.

Ben Simons and James Hedger registered a 22nd place finish in the same race and Bruce Tasker and Mark Lewis-Francis were a place further back having finished eighth 24 hours beforehand.

The men's 4-man EC race is currently taking place, with Jackson leading off Lewis-Francis, Judson and Tremayne Gilling.