Walther wins in Koenigssee but Lochner seals title
BySportsbeat
Updated 21/01/2018 at 18:16 GMT
Johannes Lochner missed out on a medal in the final race of the season in Koenigssee but still headed up an all-German World Cup one-two-three as he sealed his first overall bobsleigh World Cup title.
Winner Pilot Johannes Lochner with Marc Rademacher, Joshua Bluhm and Christian Rasp of Germany compete during the 2nd run of the four-man Bobsleigh event within the 2017-2018 IBSF World Cup Bobsled and Skeleton series on December 17, 2017 at the Olympic B
Image credit: Getty Images
The German quartet of Nico Walther, Kevin Kuske, Alexander Roediger and Eric Franke sped home in a combined 1:37.21 to take the final top spot of the campaign on home hills.
Latvia's Oskars Melbardis, Daumants Dreiskens, Arvis Vilkaste and Janis Strenga finished tied second with Canadians Benjamin Maier, Kilian Walch, Markus Sammer and Danut Ion Moldovan, 0.36 seconds behind the Germans.
Lochner's four missed out on a podium place by 0.05 seconds, but Lochner, who has four victories from eight races in 2017-18, kept his place atop the overall World Cup rankings to seal the title after amassing 1652 points.
Francesco Friedrich narrowly edged out Walther for silver, his sixth-place effort in Koenigssee taking him to 1468 overall to his compatriot's 1421.
Walther's victory, his third of the campaign, was a vital one, as it edged out Canadian Justin Kripps by just a single point, a terrific achievement after being disqualified in St. Moritz last time out.
It was a cruel blow for the Canadian, seventh in Koenigssee, who was made to pay for his own disappointing outing in St. Moritz, where he finished 16th - tainting an otherwise superbly consistent season.
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