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BEIJING, China — Germany’s Francesco Friedrich’s pursuit of a first straight Olympics double got off to a good start on Saturday.

Johannes Lochner, however, does not intend to let his compatriot win so easily.

Aiming for a fourth Olympic gold medal, Friedrich and teammates Thorsten Margis, Candy Bauer and Alexander Schueller took the lead in the four-man bobsleigh event at the Beijing Games.

The German quartet posted a combined time of 1:57.00 for the first two of four runs. Lochner and his teammates Florian Bauer, Christopher Weber and Christian Rasp are only three hundredths of a second behind.

“There’s really no difference,” Lochner said. For us, the race starts all over again tomorrow. »

The Canadian team of Justin Kripps, Ryan Sommer, Cam Stones and Benjamin Coakwell is third, 38 hundredths of a second behind Friedrich (1:57.38). Kripps leads the German Christopher Hafer by 17 hundredths (1:57.55).

“I’m not going to think too much,” said Kripps, who won gold in the two-man bobsleigh at the PyeongChang Games in 2018. “Just get the boat ready and rest for tomorrow. »

Six times a pilot has won gold in the two-man and four-man bobsleigh competitions at the same Olympic Games: Andreas Ostler (1952), Eugenio Monti (1968), Meinhard Nehmer (1976), Wolfgang Hoppe (1984), Andre Lange (2006) and Friedrich (2018).

No one has done it in two consecutive Games.

Friedrich gave himself that opportunity by winning the two-man bobsleigh event earlier in Beijing. On Saturday, he came from behind to take the lead for the last two runs.

Friedrich trailed by 16 hundredths of a second after the first run, but he was 19 hundredths faster than Lochner on the second.

Bob at 2: de Bruin came close

The Canadian 2-man of Christine de Bruin and Kristen Bujnowski battled to the very end for a podium finish, but eventually finished fifth.

The Germans unsurprisingly monopolized the two leading positions. Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi won gold, while Mariama Jamanka and Alexandra Burghardt won silver.

Americans Elana Meyers Taylor and Sylvia Hoffman will walk away with the bronze.

All three Canadian pairs were in the top-10 after the third run.

And this, despite a violent loss of control by Cynthia Appiah and Dawn Richardson Wilson near the finish line. The machine hit the wall in turn 16 and overturned to end its race on the side.

They came back on track for the last race to claim eighth place, all smiles after this show of courage.

Melissa Lotholz and Sara Villani finished 12th.