Silver was the colour once again for Team Hall as they laid down another Olympic marker at the four-man bobsleigh World Cup event in Winterberg.
For the fifth time this season at a two-man or four-man bobsleigh World Cup event, Brad Hall finished in second spot, as the Brit once again marked himself out as a legitimate medal contender come next month’s Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
Joined by his push crew of Nick Gleeson, Taylor Lawrence and Greg Cackett, Hall was fourth after the first run, just 0.07s behind Johannes Lochner and Justin Kripps in joint-second, with all-conquering German Francesco Friedrich a further 0.2s ahead atop the leaderboard.
The British sled’s push-start time of 5.09s was the quickest of all 21 crews on the first run and the fourth-fastest start of 5.10s for the second run was barely any worse, as Hall converted that to a total time of 1:49.50 to top the leaderboard with three sleds to go.
The pressure told as both Kripps and Lochner failed to go faster and although Friedrich ultimately proved unbeatable once again, smashing Team Hall’s overall time by 0.42s to extend a four-man World Cup winning streak that began way back in February 2020, the Brits sealed a familiarly stunning silver.
“It was a great performance from the boys today: another silver medal to add to the tally,” said Lawrence, who made his World Cup debut in Winterberg just two years ago.
“It’s great to do it in Winterberg – it’s a track that we’re starting to enjoy.
“Having the first-ranked push means a lot to us, too. There’s nothing better as brakemen than when you come down the bottom of the track and you see that No.1 next to your name. It fuels you for those next pushes and those next runs.
“Hopefully we can carry this momentum forward into St Moritz and then into the Olympic Games.”
Hall now has three four-man silver medals to go with two two-man silvers in World Cup action this season, not to mention an additional two-man bronze and Olympic Test event silver won in the same event before the season proper got underway.
With Beijing 2022 less than a month away, Olympic preparation is heating up, with next weekend’s action in St Moritz the World Cup season finale.
The four-man event in Winterberg also saw London 2012 Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford making his debut in Lamin Deen’s crew and they finished 17th on the day, 2.14s behind Friedrich.
In the two-woman event earlier in the day, Mica McNeill and Adele Nicoll finished 14th in a race won by Germany’s Laura Nolte.