Germany Sweeps Two-Man Bobsleigh Medals in Olympics

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy — Germany's Johannes Lochner and Georg Fleischhauer claimed gold in the two-man bobsleigh at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on Tuesday, capping a dominant performance that saw their country sweep all three medals for the second consecutive Games.

Lochner and Fleischhauer finished with a total time of 3 minutes, 39.70 seconds over four runs at the Cortina Sliding Centre, finishing 1.34 seconds ahead of silver medalists Francesco Friedrich and Alexander Schuller, who clocked 3:41.04. Adam Ammour and Alexander Schaller took bronze for Germany in 3:41.52, edging out the United States' Frank Del Duca and Josh Williamson, who placed fourth at 3:41.96. Romania's Mihai Cristian Tentea and George Iordache rounded out the top five.

The event unfolded over two days, with the first two runs on Monday setting the stage for Germany's control. Lochner, the season's World Cup leader with six wins in seven two-man races, opened a commanding 0.80-second lead after the second run, a margin that historical data shows is unusually large for the discipline. On Tuesday, under the coldest conditions of the Games so far, the upper sections of the icy track proved treacherous,...