Francesco Friedrich of Germany wins 16th world bobsled championship, taking 4-man in Lake Placid

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) — Francesco Friedrich won every championship he could in bobsledding this season.

The German great is now a world champion for the 16th time, capping off his seventh four-man world title on Saturday at Mount Van Hoevenberg on the final day of the international bobsled season.

This is the sixth time — all in the last seven seasons — that Friedrich has swept the World Cup season titles in both two- and four-man, plus swept those races at either the Olympics or the world championships that season.

Friedrich finished three runs — one of the scheduled four heats was canceled on Friday because of worsening track conditions as the air temperature rose — over two days in 2 minutes, 44.52 seconds.

Johannes Lochner of Germany was second in 2:44.80 and Brad Hall of Britain was third in 2:45.00. The top American sled was driven by Frank Del Duca, who finished fourth in 2:45.64, while Kris Horn of the U.S. drove to a seventh-place finish.

“The biggest thing was just having friends and family here,” Del Duca said after wrapping up worlds on his home track in Lake Placid. “Coming up the outrun and high-fiving them and hearing them cheer was really special. It was a great time.”

Friedrich capped another year when he was the best bobsledder in the world, winning medals in all 17 of his major international races (15 World Cups, plus the two-man and four-man events in Lake Placid). He won 10 golds, also best in the world this year, with six silvers and one bronze.

Lochner finished his year with 16 medals — six gold, seven silver and three bronze.

Laura Nolte is the world champion in two-woman bobsledding for the first time, and she led Germany’s second consecutive sweep of the world championship medals in that event.

Nolte — a two-time world monobob champion, plus an Olympic gold medalist — and Deborah Levi finished four runs over two days in 3:46.00. Kim Kalicki and Leonie Fiebig were second in 3:46.52 and Lisa Buckwitz and Kira Lipperheide were third in 3:47.46.

The U.S. took the next three spots after the Germans. Kaillie Humphries — who had a huge fourth run — teamed with Emily Renna to finish fourth, just 0.06 seconds out of the medals. World monobob champion Kaysha Love and Jazmine Jones were fifth, followed by Elana Meyers Taylor and Lolo Jones in sixth.

It was Germany’s 11th time sweeping the medals in a world championship or Olympic bobsled race. It also happened last week in the two-man competition.

Germany claimed 73 of the 103 medals awarded in World Cup and world championship bobsledding this season, winning 28 of 34 races around the world. No other nation had more than nine bobsled medals; Britain and the U.S. both finished the season with that many.

Nolte had 14 medals on the season, two more than Buckwitz for the top spot in the world in 2024-25. Kalicki had seven and Love — the top American in the overall medal standings — finished the season with six.

The international sliding season is over, though some nations are still planning some internal events while weather allows. The first major news of the sliding offseason could be the announcement on whether Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, will play host to the Olympic sliding events or if they will take place in Lake Placid next February.

Cortina is scheduled to hold a homologation, or track testing, event later this month. It is unclear if that will happen as planned.

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The German teams that won the top three spots in the 2-woman bobsled competition celebrate during the bobsled world championships, Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Lake Placid, N.Y. From left to right, are: second-place winners Kim Kalicki and Leonie Fiebig, first-place winners Deborah Levi and Laura Nolte, and third-place winners Lisa Buckwitz and Kira Lipperheide. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Germany's Deborah Levi, center left, and Laura Nolte celebrate after winning the the 2-woman bobsled competition during the bobsled world championships, Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Lake Placid, N.Y. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Germany's Deborah Levi, center left, and Laura Nolte celebrate after winning the the 2-woman bobsled competition during the bobsled world championships, Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Lake Placid, N.Y. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Germany's Deborah Levi, second from right, and Laura Nolte , right, celebrate with fans after winning the the 2-woman bobsled competition during the bobsled world championships, Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Lake Placid, N.Y. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Germany's Lisa Buckwitz and Kira Lipperheide make a run in the third heat of the 2-woman bobsled race during the bobsled world championships, Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Lake Placid, N.Y. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Germany's Kim Kalicki and Leonie Fiebig make a run in the third heat of the 2-woman bobsled race during the bobsled world championships, Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Lake Placid, N.Y. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Germany's Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi make a run in the third heat of the 2-woman bobsled race during the bobsled world championships, Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Lake Placid, N.Y. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Britain's Adele Nicoll and Ashleigh Nelson make a run in the third heat of the 2-woman bobsled race during the bobsled world championships, Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Lake Placid, N.Y. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Canada's Bianca Ribi and Niamh Haughey make a run in the third heat of the 2-woman bobsled race during the bobsled world championships, Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Lake Placid, N.Y. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Elana Meyers Taylor and Lolo Jones, of the United States, make a run in the third heat of the 2-woman bobsled race during the bobsled world championships, Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Lake Placid, N.Y. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Canada's Cynthia Appiah and Skylar Sieben make a run in the third heat of the 2-woman bobsled race during the bobsled world championships, Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Lake Placid, N.Y. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Kaillie Armbruster Humphries and Emily Renna, of the United States, make a run in the third heat of the 2-woman bobsled race during the bobsled world championships, Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Lake Placid, N.Y. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Kaysha Love and Jasmine Jones, of the United States, make a run in the third heat of the 2-woman bobsled race during the bobsled world championships, Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Lake Placid, N.Y. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Germany's Francesco Friedrich, Matthias Sommer, Alexander Schuller and Felix Straub celebrate after finishing their run in the fourth heat of the 4-man bobsled race during the bobsled world championships, Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Lake Placid, N.Y. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Germany's Francesco Friedrich, Matthias Sommer, Alexander Schuller and Felix Straub celebrate after finishing their run in the fourth heat of the 4-man bobsled race during the bobsled world championships, Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Lake Placid, N.Y. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Germany's Francesco Friedrich, Matthias Sommer, Alexander Schuller and Felix Straub celebrate after finishing their run in the fourth heat of the 4-man bobsled race during the bobsled world championships, Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Lake Placid, N.Y. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

ST. LOUIS (AP) — World champions Ilia Malinin and the ice dance duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates will anchor one of the strongest U.S. Figure Skating teams in history when they head to Italy for the Milan Cortina Olympics in less than a month.

Malinin, fresh off his fourth straight national title, will be the prohibitive favorite to follow in the footsteps of Nathan Chen by delivering another men's gold medal for the American squad when he steps on the ice at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.

Chock and Bates, who won their record-setting seventh U.S. title Saturday night, also will be among the Olympic favorites, as will world champion Alysa Liu and women's teammate Amber Glenn, fresh off her third consecutive national title.

U.S. Figure Skating announced its full squad of 16 athletes for the Winter Games during a made-for-TV celebration Sunday.

"I'm just so excited for the Olympic spirit, the Olympic environment," Malinin said. “Hopefully go for that Olympic gold.”

Malinin will be joined on the men's side by Andrew Torgashev, the all-or-nothing 24-year-old from Coral Springs, Florida, and Maxim Naumov, the 24-year-old from Simsbury, Connecticut, who fulfilled the hopes of his late parents by making the Olympic team.

Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were returning from a talent camp in Kansas when their American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter and crashed into the icy Potomac River in January 2025. One of the last conversations they had with their son was about what it would take for him to follow in their footsteps by becoming an Olympian.

“We absolutely did it,” Naumov said. “Every day, year after year, we talked about the Olympics. It means so much in our family. It's what I've been thinking about since I was 5 years old, before I even know what to think. I can't put this into words.”

Chock and Bates helped the Americans win team gold at the Beijing Games four years ago, but they finished fourth — one spot out of the medals — in the ice dance competition. They have hardly finished anywhere but first in the years since, winning three consecutive world championships and the gold medal at three straight Grand Prix Finals.

U.S. silver medalists Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik also made the dance team, as did the Canadian-born Christina Carreira, who became eligible for the Olympics in November when her American citizenship came through, and Anthony Ponomarenko.

Liu was picked for her second Olympic team after briefly retiring following the Beijing Games. She had been burned out by years of practice and competing, but stepping away seemed to rejuvenate the 20-year-old from Clovis, California, and she returned to win the first world title by an American since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium two decades ago.

Now, the avant-garde Liu will be trying to help the U.S. win its first women's medal since Sasha Cohen in Turin in 2006, and perhaps the first gold medal since Sarah Hughes triumphed four years earlier at the Salt Lake City Games.

Her biggest competition, besides a powerful Japanese contingent, could come from her own teammates: Glenn, a first-time Olympian, has been nearly unbeatable the past two years, while 18-year-old Isabeau Levito is a former world silver medalist.

"This was my goal and my dream and it just feels so special that it came true,” said Levito, whose mother is originally from Milan.

The two pairs spots went to Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, the U.S. silver medalists, and the team of Emily Chan and Spencer Howe.

The top American pairs team, two-time reigning U.S. champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, were hoping that the Finnish-born Efimova would get her citizenship approved in time to compete in Italy. But despite efforts by the Skating Club of Boston, where they train, and the help of their U.S. senators, she did not receive her passport by the selection deadline.

“The importance and magnitude of selecting an Olympic team is one of the most important milestones in an athlete's life,” U.S. Figure Skating CEO Matt Farrell said, "and it has such an impact, and while there are sometimes rules, there is also a human element to this that we really have to take into account as we make decisions and what's best going forward from a selection process.

“Sometimes these aren't easy," Farrell said, “and this is not the fun part.”

The fun is just beginning, though, for the 16 athletes picked for the powerful American team.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Amber Glenn competes during the women's free skating competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Alysa Liu skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Maxim Naumov skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Madison Chock and Evan Bates skate during the "Making the Team" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Gold medalist Ilia Malinin arrives for the metal ceremony after the men's free skate competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)