Brad Hall hailed a career highlight after his four-man bobsleigh team etched their names into the history books by winning Great Britain’s first-ever European gold.
The British quartet of Hall, Arran Gulliver, Taylor Lawrence and Greg Cackett are in phenomenal form and a fifth World Cup podium of the season saw them draw level with Francesco Friedrich’s German quartet at the top of the overall standings.
Having ended Germany’s 17-year unbeaten run at the same venue last weekend, Team Hall arrived confident of a repeat and their time of 1:49.32 was enough to edge out home favourite Friedrich, himself a six-time European champion, by 0.09 seconds.
Hall and his team were up against three German teams who could boast Olympic medals and the 32-year-old was understandably overwhelmed by their historic feat.
Hall said: “It’s an amazing feeling - it’s probably the highlight of all of our careers.
“We’ve done something no British team has ever done before and that feels pretty special. We’ve made history and no one can take that away from us.
“We knew we could win here after doing it last week but to beat the Germans two weeks running at a track where they always dominate is incredible, really."
#BMWIBSF World Cup + European Championships in #Altenberg:
— IBSF (@IBSFsliding) January 22, 2023
🥇 @BobsleighBrad🇬🇧: second straight win, tied for the overall lead with Francesco Friedrich! And team Hall's greatest achievement: first ever British European Champions in 4-man #Bobsleigh!
📷 IBSF|Viesturs Lācis pic.twitter.com/tsZppk8aRw
After being the joint-second fastest starters in Run 1 with 5.16 seconds, they produced an astonishing 5.10 start in their second to ensure they built on the 0.02 second lead they held at the halfway mark.
Hall then produced another outstanding drive as he made light work of the snowy conditions and the partisan crowd at one of the toughest tracks in the world.
“The guys gave us two great pushes and I’ve felt like I’m getting better and better at driving the track,” said Hall.
“The 5.10 start they gave me in the second run was brilliant and we held it together all the way down in what were pretty tough conditions.”
The success completed a dream weekend for British sliders after Matt Weston brought home men’s skeleton gold on Friday.
It couldn’t be any tighter with two races left in the four-man bobsleigh World Cup season, with Hall and Friedrich level on 1287 points each.
But with the World Championships in St. Moritz just around the corner, it will be a restrained but well-deserved celebration for Hall and his merry men.
Hall said: “We’ll really enjoy this one - maybe pizza and a glass of champagne tonight - but our focus is already on the World Championships.
“We go to Moritz in great form and we want to keep the good feeling going.”
Sportsbeat 2023