Winter Olympics 2022 - For sale - one Olympic bobsled, slightly used, has gold-medal experience

You can imagine the ad reading something like ...

«For Sale: One bobsled. One previous owner.

Seats four. Has won Olympic gold. Cash only.»

When Canada slides down the «Flying Snow Dragon» track at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre for its first heat in the four-man bobsleigh Saturday at the 2022 Winter Olympics, it will be driving the sled that won gold for Germany's Francesco Friedrich's team four years ago in Pyeongchang.

Friedrich is aiming to become the first Olympian to win back-to-back gold medals in both the two- and four-man bob. He already secured gold in the two-man, but Canada's team is hoping to end Friedrich's plan with his own creation in the four-man.

The German team and its sled tech, made in partnership with BMW's research and innovation department, is upgraded for each Olympic cycle. Since it was now redundant, the team could have stashed the sled from 2018 in the garage or used it for training or spare parts. Instead, it put a «For Sale» sign on it.

"[Friedrich] definitely wouldn't have sold the sled if he didn't have something better, right?" said Canada bobsledder Justin Kripps. «It's a very expensive item to have sitting in your garage unused, so I can see why he sold it.»

Canada's four-man pilot, Christopher Spring, took time to adjust to the secondhand sled — adorned in a blue and white design in tribute to the Royal Canadian Navy — but has grown to love it.

«I had some growing pains in that thing. It took me a while to get used to it, but I've got a good feel for it now,» Spring said. "[I'm] happy that I feel comfortable in it now, and we're here at the right time with that feeling."

Friedrich is considered one of the greats of bobsledding. Since Pyeongchang — where he tied for gold in the