World Cup round up: Igls
This weekend’s World Cup competition was solely focussed on bobsleigh after the skeleton events were cancelled earlier in the week.
Great Britain’s Brad Hall finished 10th in the 4-man event and 17th in the 2-man in Igls, Austria, with compatriot Adele Nicoll 19th in both the monobob and women’s races.
With Taylor Lawrence still recovering from a calf injury, Alex Cartagena made his GB1 2-man debut alongside Hall on Saturday, before Olly Butterworth did the same in the 4-man on Sunday. Both Cartagena and Butterworth raced last weekend in Cortina in the opposite disciplines but this was Cartagena’s first outing as Hall’s sole pusher and Butterworth’s first in the blue ribband competition.
Leon Greenwood and Greg Cackett joined Hall and Butterworth in the 4-man sled, with Kya Placide Nicoll's brakeman in the women's race.
Germany’s Johannes Lochner took 2-man gold ahead of countryman Francesco Friedrich for the second time in two races, with the result reversed in the 4-man. Adam Ammour made it a German clean sweep of the 2-man medals before Italy’s Patrick Baumgartner secured just his second-ever World Cup podium place in the 4-man 24 hours later.
Laura Nolte won the women’s race ahead of Kaysha Love after the American had beaten her to top spot in the monobob. Kim Kalicki won women’s bronze, while another German, Lisa Buckwitz, finished third in the monobob.
The World Cup circuit now takes a break for a week, with the next races scheduled for Lillehammer in Norway on the weekend of December 12, 13 and 14.
There is men’s, women’s and team skeleton on the Friday, before monobob, women’s and a 4-man double header on the Saturday and Sunday.
