World champion Friedrich wins 2-man bobsled World Cup race
KOENIGSSEE, Germany (AP) World champion Francesco Friedrich of Germany defeated Oskars Melbardis of Latvia for the third time in as many races to win a two-man bobsled World Cup race on Saturday.
Friedrich and brakeman Thorsten Margis were fastest in both runs, clocking 49.29 and 49.48 seconds for a combined time of 1:38.77, beating the defending overall World Cup champion by 0.28.
Melbardis and brakeman Daumants Dreiskens had runs of 49.48 and 49.57 for a combined time of 1:39.05.
One hundredth of a second separated third, fourth and fifth. Nico Walther and Marko Huebenbecker of Germany were 0.73 behind in third, followed by Justin Kripps and Alexander Kopacz of Canada, and then Rico Peter and Thomas Amrhein of Switzerland.
Friedrich leads the standings with a maximum 675 points from three races, followed by Melbardis on 630 and Won Yun-jong of South Korea on 576. Won was sixth in Koenigssee on Saturday.
(This story has been corrected to show the 2nd run time for Melbardis was 49.57.)
