Despite high hopes, the Wangner bobsleigh team around pilot Michael Vogt just missed out on the medals at the World Championships in four-man bobsleigh in St. Moritz this weekend. In the World Championship competition won by Germany’s Francesco Friedrich ahead of Briton Brad Hall (+ 0.69) and Latvian Emils Cipulis (also + 0.69) at the same time, the Swiss finished fifth, just over a second behind.
Good start and strong finish
The strongest Swiss foursome with pilot Vogt and the pushers Silvio Weber, Cyril Bieri and Sandro Michel was still waiting for the podium after a good run 1 with the 4th intermediate place. With a time of 1:05.36, the handicap for bronze was just 5 hundredths.
Mortgage after run 2
For the Vogt four-man bobsleigh, however, the medal dreams were already shattered after a botched second run, in which they only achieved the tenth best time. The mortgage on the medal ranks had already increased to 63 hundredths. In the 3rd run, Michael Vogt was able to limit the damage a little, he steered his sled to the finish line in the 6th run, but the Swiss were already more than a second behind precious metal after run 3.
Final redemption
In the 4th run, however, Michael Vogt managed to improve at the end. In the last run he again achieved the fourth-best runtime, which brought the Wangner team 5th place. The final time of four runs of 4:21.38 resulted in a total of around one second and seven tenths behind winner Friedrich. At least the Vogt four managed to overtake the bob of the German Christoph Hafer.
More Swiss far away
At this home World Championships on the Olympia Bobrun in St. Moritz, the other Swiss foursome with Cédric Follador in 9th place (+ 2.65) and Timo Rohner (+ 3.40) in 12th place were far from having a chance of a medal.
