CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy – Johannes Lochner’s German team surged into the lead of the four-man bobsleigh competition at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics on Saturday, while a frightening crash for Austrian pilot Jakob Mandlbauer cast a pall over the event. The German squad, comprised of Lochner, Georg Fleischhauer, Thorsten Margis, and Jorn Wenzel, posted a combined time of 1:48.61 after the first two heats, establishing a 0.43-second advantage over their compatriots led by Francesco Friedrich.
The competition was briefly halted after Mandlbauer’s sled overturned on the track during the second heat at the Cortina Sliding Centre. Mandlbauer received nearly 20 minutes of on-ice treatment before being transported to a hospital for further evaluation due to neck pain, according to the Austrian team. His teammates were assessed at the track and cleared. The incident underscored the inherent risks of the sport and prompted a temporary suspension of racing while officials ensured track safety.
Lochner, already a gold medalist in the two-man bobsleigh alongside Fleischhauer, appears well-positioned to add another gold to his tally. The pairing of Lochner and Fleischhauer, bolstered by the experience of four-time Olympic champion Margis and Wenzel, demonstrated impressive speed and precision on the challenging Cortina track. Their combined time reflects a dominant performance, setting a high bar for the remaining teams.
However, Friedrich, the two-time reigning champion in this event, remains a formidable contender. Having already relinquished his two-man title to Lochner, the 35-year-old will need a strong showing in the final two heats on Sunday – the last day of the Games – to challenge for the top spot. The gap of 0.43 seconds is significant but not insurmountable, and Friedrich’s experience and skill make him a threat to the very end.
The German dominance extends beyond the top two sleds, with Adam Ammour’s team currently in third place, just 0.59 seconds behind Lochner’s leading time. This sets the stage for a potential German sweep of the podium, a scenario that would further solidify Germany’s position as a bobsleigh powerhouse. However, the competition remains tight, with only 0.3 seconds separating third from eighth place, indicating that several teams are still within striking distance of a medal.
Great Britain’s Brad Hall, along with his team of Cackett, Greenwood, and Lawrence, currently sits in third place with a time of 54.39, 0.48 seconds behind the leaders. Switzerland has two sleds in contention, piloted by Follador and Vogt, while Italy, Team GB, and the Republic of Korea also harbor medal aspirations. Patrick Baumgartner steered the Italian team to seventh place after the first two heats, finishing in 54.55, just 0.64 seconds off the pace. Baumgartner and his push athlete Robert Mircea finished seventh in the 2-man bobsleigh competition earlier in the Games.
The United States finds itself in a challenging position, with Kris Horn’s sled in eighth place and Frank Del Duca’s team further back in 14th. Both American teams will need to deliver exceptional performances in the final two heats to climb onto the podium. Their times of 54.60 and 55.03 respectively, demonstrate a gap in performance compared to the leading German and British teams.
Adding a unique element to the competition, the 2026 Games mark the first time that two four-man bobsleigh teams from the Caribbean will participate in the Olympics. Jamaica, piloted by Shane Pitter, and Trinidad and Tobago, led by Axel Brown, are both competing, bringing a new level of diversity and excitement to the event. While their times currently place them lower in the standings, their presence represents a significant milestone for bobsleigh in the Caribbean.
The final two heats, scheduled for Sunday, will determine the medalists in this thrilling event. Lochner’s team enters as the clear favorite, but Friedrich’s determination and the close competition from several other teams ensure a captivating conclusion to the four-man bobsleigh competition at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. The focus will also remain on the health and recovery of Jakob Mandlbauer, whose crash served as a stark reminder of the risks inherent in the sport.
Here’s the current leaderboard after the first two heats:
- Germany Lochner (Margis, Wenzel, Fleischhauer) 53″91
- Germany Friedrich (Sommer, Schuller, Straub) 54″30 +0″39
- Great Britain Hall (Cackett, Greenwood, Lawrence) 54″39 +0″48
- Switzerland Follador (Rolli, Annen, Vogele) 54″49 +0″58
- Germany Ammour A. (Ammour I., Tasche, Schaller) 54″51 +0″60
- Switzerland Vogt (Haas, Ndiaye, Aeberhard) 54″53 +0″62
- Italy Baumgartner (Bilotti, Fantazzini, Mircea) 54″55 +0″64
- South Korea Kim J. (Kim H., Lee G., Kim S.) 54″60 +0″69
- United States Horn (Furnell, Powell, Vissering) 54″60 +0″69
- Latvia Kalenda (Kaufmanis, Miknis, Klava) 54″64 +0″73
- Canada Austin (Bruggeling, Evelyn, Murray-Lawrence) 54″72 +0″81
- Austria Treichl (Sammer, Stepan, Huber) 54″80 +0″89
- Switzerland Rohner (Moser, Hersperger, Bieri) 54″99 +1″08
- United States del Duca (Niederhofer, Sosoo, Williamson) 55″03 +1″12
- Brazil Bindilatti (de Souza D.H., Souza da Silva R., Bacca Goncalves) 55″04 +1″13
- Romania Tentea (Pacioianu, Iordache, Dinescu) 55″05 +1″14
- China Sun K. (Zhang J., Shi Y., An T.) 55″05 +1″14
- China Li C. (Jiang M., Ye J., Ding Y.) 55″07 +1″16
- Liechtenstein Kranz (Buehler, Lenherr, Tschofen) 55″08 +1″17
- Netherlands Wesselink (Franjic J., Franjic J., Koster) 55″09 +1″18
- Austria Mandlbauer (Bertschler, Mitterer, Nichols-Bardi) 55″14 +1″23
- Canada Dearborn (Eskrick-Parkinson, Stoikos, Zanette) 55″18 +1″27
- Jamaica Pitter (Harris, Tracey, Fearon) 55″28 +1″37
- South Korea Suk (Chae, Chun, Lee D.) 55″51 +1″60
- Israel Edelman (Chen M., Zisman, Katz) 55″53 +1″62
- France Heinrich (Hauterville, Blairon, Riou) 55″59 +1″68
- Trinidad and Tobago Brown (John Da, John S., Williams) 55″72 +1″81