Team GB's Four-Man Bobsleigh Team Finishes Seventh at Cortina Olympics
Team GB's four-man bobsleigh team has missed out on an Olympic podium finish after an underwhelming performance at the Cortina Sliding Centre. The British squad, considered outsiders for a medal in a sport dominated by Germany's multi-million pound programme, ultimately finished in seventh place, falling just under half a second short of the bronze medal position.
German Dominance Secures Gold and Silver
Germany's Johannes Lochner collected his second gold medal of the Games, winning by 0.57 seconds from two-time defending champion and teammate Francesco Friedrich. This victory underscored Germany's continued supremacy in bobsleigh, with Friedrich's latest medal making him the most successful bobsleigh pilot in Olympic history, boasting four golds and two silvers.
However, Germany did not have it all their own way, as Adam Ammour, the third German pilot, was narrowly pipped to bronze on the final run by Michael Vogt's Switzerland, finishing a further half-second behind Friedrich. Vogt's sled crossed the line just four-hundredths of a second quicker than Ammour, denying Germany a historic clean sweep of the podium in this event.
British Team's Recent Success Fails to Translate
The British team, consisting of pilot Brad Hall, Taylor Lawrence, Leon Greenwood, and Greg Cackett, has emerged as a major force in bobsleigh over the past couple of seasons. They achieved notable successes, including winning two four-man gold medals on the World Cup circuit in Winterberg last January—marking the first time since 2012 that a German team had been defeated there—and securing bronze at the 2025 world championships.
Finishing fourth overall in the 2025-26 World Cup season, expectations were high that they could challenge the Germans closely in Cortina. After a strong first run positioned them in third place, they slipped down the rankings with a poor second run, and the time gap proved insurmountable over the final two heats on Sunday.
Heartbreak and Reflection for Team GB
Pilot Brad Hall expressed his disappointment, stating, "It's pretty brutal. We expected much better from ourselves. We've had a great four years up until this moment, winning World Championship medals, European champions and everything else. To finish seventh is quite heart-breaking. It's not a reflection of our ability, it's just the way things have turned out today. That is the way sport goes sometimes."
Hall also highlighted the hope that Olympic performances would boost interest in winter sports, saying, "Obviously we'd like everyone to tune in a bit more in the years in between to see our successes. Hopefully some of the performances at these Olympic Games will mean that a lot more people tune into winter sports and see that success over the next few years."
Overall Outcome for British Bobsleigh
While it was a week of joy for Lochner and his teammates Thorsten Margis, Jorn Wenzel, and Georg Fleischhauer, it proved disappointing for GB. Britain leaves Milano-Cortina with no bobsleigh medals, as the two-man team of Hall and Greenwood—a late replacement for Lawrence—finished 12th, compounding the overall setback for the British sliding sports programme.
