German bobsledder Johannes Lochner secured the gold medal in the two-man bobsled at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo. With a lead of 1.34 seconds, he outpaced Francesco Friedrich, leading to a German sweep of the podium. Lochner capped his career ahead of his planned retirement.
Johannes Lochner from Königssee, aged 35, won the two-man bobsled event with his brakeman Georg Fleischhauer on the new ice canal in Cortina. The lead over second-place Francesco Friedrich with Alexander Schüller was 1.34 seconds, the largest since 1980. Bronze went to Adam Ammour and Alexander Schaller, securing a German podium sweep.
The competition consisted of four runs. In the first run, Lochner set a start and track record with start number one, leading by 0.44 seconds. He extended the gap to 0.80 seconds in the second run. The third run added another 0.12 seconds, and positions remained unchanged in the fourth. Friedrich commented: "Hansi has deservedly won; that must be acknowledged without envy."
Lochner, a trained electrical engineer working at the Institute for Forensic Expertise in Munich, had long been in Friedrich's shadow. Since 2016, he finished second to him nine times at Olympics and World Championships, except at the 2023 Worlds in St. Moritz, where he won with Fleischhauer. After silver medals in 2022 in Peking, Lochner announced his retirement, viewing Friedrich as unbeatable. He described the joy as "total geil" and added: "There's nothing better than when a plan comes together."
Friedrich, a four-time Olympic champion, took silver. Lochner plans to end his 15-year career after the four-man bobsled, aiming for a double there.
