Johannes Lochner’s Germany team lead four-man, Austrian pilot Jakob Mandlbauer taken to hospital with neck injury

Johannes Lochner steered his German sled right into a commanding lead within the four-man bobsleigh on Saturday, 21 February, after the opening two heats have been momentarily delayed following a foul crash for the Austrian team.

Pilot Jakob Mandlbauer required remedy for nearly 20 minutes on the ice and was carried off on a stretcher after the Austrian sled turned over within the second warmth on the Sliding Center Curtain.

Mandlbauer was taken to hospital for additional examination after struggling neck ache, the Austrian team confirmed, whereas his teammates have been checked on the monitor.

When the competitors resumed, Lochner solidified his prospects of profitable a second Olympic gold of Milano Curtain 2026 alongside Georg Fleischhauer.

Lochner and Fleischhauer won the two-man title collectively and when joined by four-time Olympic champion Thorsten Margis and Jorn Wenzel of their four-man sled the quartet posted a mixed time of 1:48.61 within the opening two heats on Saturday.

That was 0.43 seconds faster than the German sled piloted by Francesco Friedrichwho’s the two-time reigning champion on this occasion.

Friedrich has relinquished his two-man title to Lochner already in Cortina, and the 35-year-old could have to go higher than his compatriot within the ultimate two heats on Sunday, the ultimate day of the Games.

A German 1-2-3 is on the playing cards with Adam Ammour‘s sled (+0.59) third quickest, whereas simply 0.3 seconds separate third from eighth, with two sleds from Switzerland, and one every for Italy, Team GB and the Republic of Korea additionally in rivalry to make the rostrum.