Francesco Friedrich dominating bobsleigh - going for third Olympic title in Beijing 2022

Francesco Friedrich is on course for his third Winter Olympics title at the halfway stage of the 2-man bobsleigh at Beijing 2022.

Bobsled pilot Friedrich and brakeman Thorsten Margis finished their two runs on Monday 14 February in 1:58.38, a lead of 0.15secs at the head of the field as they look to retain the gold medal they claimed at PyeongChang 2018.

In second was fellow German pair Johannes Lochner - fifth four years ago - and Florian Bauer, who is making his Olympic Winter Games debut in China.

Friedrich has lost only two 2-man races in the past two seasons although he does not feel the burden of expectation that comes with such dominance.

He told Olympics.com: “That’s our work and we know that there is pressure and use that pressure to motivate us.

"We can make use of it and use it to be good. We are happy with the day but the second run must be better tomorrow - we will give all we can do.”

Germany go into the second day with three of the top four and a historic clean sweep by one country beckoning.

Heat 3 gets under way on Tuesday 15 February (20:15) followed by heat 4 (21:50) at Yanqing National Sliding Centre.

Friedrich made his Olympic Winter Games debut at Sochi 2014 where he finished sixth in the 2-man bobsled and eighth in the 4-man.

Since then he has won 13 world titles and two gold medals in PyeongChang where Friedrich and Margis shared top spot with Justin Kripps and Alexander Kopacz of Team Canada.

Only once before had two teams tied for gold when Canadian duo Pierre Lueders and David MacEachern were joint 2-man champions with Italians Guenther Huber and Antonio Tartaglia at Nagano 98.

Before the competition started, Kripps admitted Friedrich was a daunting opponent but told thestar.com: “The Olympics