Friedrich leads 4-man world bobsleigh title race as weather takes its toll on Lake Placid track

Germany's Francesco Friedrich is well on his way to another world bobsleigh title.

And that was about the only predictable development in the four-man world championship race that started Friday at Mount Van Hoevenberg.

The second heat of the four-heat race was cancelled — after it had been run in its entirety — Friday because of track conditions getting worse as the air temperature climbed quickly, the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation said.

That decision came after Germany's Johannes Lochner had one of the runners attached to his sled damaged by sliding through bare spots on the track. He also had damage to the front of his sled from something that happened as he jumped in at the start, which wouldn't have been caused by any track condition issue.

Germany successfully appealed and Lochner could have taken his second run again, but the jury decided that warmer air wouldn't have led to that re-run having a fair result. So, the entire heat was cancelled.

"The competition will resume (Saturday) as planned with heats 3 and 4," the IBSF said.

Weather-permitting, that is.

It was about -4 C when racing started Friday and climbed to about 8 C when the four-man event was done for the morning. And the weather forecast for Saturday calls for even warmer air.

Friedrich — a 15-time world champion, with nine two-man golds and four two-man golds on his resume along with two more Olympic golds in both disciplines — was going to be the leader anyway. His one-run time is 54.23 seconds, with Lochner (54.52) second and Britain's Brad Hall (54.54) third.

Had the second run counted, Hall would have been second, with Germany's Adam Ammour third, Frank Del Duca of the U.S. fourth, Kris Horn of the U.S. in fifth and Lochner in