Friedrich wins four-man bobsleigh World Championship

OTTAWA, March 10 (Xinhua) -- GerMany's Francesco Friedrich capped an incredible 2018-19 season with his second gold from four-Man bobsleigh at the IBSF world Championships on Saturday.

Fresh off sliding to two-Man victory on March 2, the pilot hit the top of the podium again in the four-Man race at Whistler Sliding Centre. His team, which also included Candy Bauer, Martin Grothkopp and Thorsten Margis, won the final three heats to best sleds driven by Latvia's Oskars KiberManis and Canada's Justin Kripps.

Friedrich was the world Cup champion in two-Man and four-Man this season, plus winning the two-Man world title last weekend. He's the first driver to claim all four championships in the same season since GerMany's Andre Lange did it in 2007-08.

Friedrich finished four runs in three minutes, 21.33 seconds. Latvia's KiberManis - the leader after Friday's first two runs, before Friedrich overtook him Saturday - was second in 3:21.62, and Canada's Kripps drove to the bronze in 3:21.78.

"It feels so great and we did a great job (even) with an injury to one of my legs," said Friedrich after capturing the second four-Man world Championship of his career. "It feels so good and I feel so happy and proud of our best."

China's Shao Yijun finished 14th, 2.64 seconds behind the leader, in his world Championship debut. Another Chinese quartet, piloted by Sun Kaizhi, the U23 world Championship four-Man winner in GerMany this year, was in the 20th place.

PyeongChang Olympics silver medalist Won Yunjong spearheaded South Korea to seventh place, 1.46 seconds adrift.