Date | 14 – 15 February 1952 | |
---|---|---|
Status | Olympic | |
Location | Bob sleighbanen, Frognerseter, Oslo | |
Participants | 36 from 9 countries | |
Format | Four runs, total time determined placement. | |
Details | Curves: 13 Length: 1508 m Start Altitude: 429 m Vertical Drop: 124 m |
Whilst Switzerland and the USA had swept the medals at the 1949 and 1950 World Championships, the return to international competition of Germany in 1951 had brought a new threat to the established crews. At the 1951 Worlds the German pair of pilot Anderl Ostler and brakeman Lorenz Niebert became champion at their first attempt and emerged as new favourites for the Olympic title. The duo, who had originally been rivals before teaming up, set a blistering pace on the first of the four Olympic runs and built a lead of 1¼ seconds. Although their next three runs were not as fast they were still fastest on every run and finished nearly three seconds ahead of the second place Americans with the veteran Fritz Feierabend steering Switzerland into third. The German victory was achieved despite the use of a bob that had been manufactured in 1936.
The 1948 champion, Felix Endrich, finished fourth in Oslo but regained the world title the following year in Garmisch. A week later he was killed instantly at the same track when his four man bob left the circuit and struck a tree.
Pos | Nr | Bobsleigh | NOC | Time | Run 1 | Run 2 | Run 3 | Run 4 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 11 | Germany I | ![]() | 5:24.54 | 1:20.76 (1) | 1:21.64 (1) | 1:21.02 (1) | 1:21.12 (1) | Gold | |||||
Anderl Ostler • Lorenz Nieberl | ||||||||||||||
2 | 18 | United States I | ![]() | 5:26.89 | 1:22.03 (2) | 1:22.12 (2) | 1:21.21 (2) | 1:21.53 (3) | Silver | |||||
Stan Benham • Pat Martin | ||||||||||||||
3 | 8 | Switzerland I | ![]() | 5:27.71 | 1:22.13 (4) | 1:22.46 (4) | 1:21.67 (3) | 1:21.45 (2) | Bronze | |||||
Fritz Feierabend • Stephan Waser | ||||||||||||||
4 | 12 | Switzerland II | ![]() | 5:29.15 | 1:22.14 (5) | 1:22.32 (3) | 1:22.50 (4) | 1:22.19 (4) | ||||||
Felix Endrich • Werner Spring | ||||||||||||||
5 | 4 | France II | ![]() | 5:31.98 | 1:23.22 (6) | 1:23.06 (5) | 1:22.85 (5) | 1:22.85 (6) | ||||||
André Robin • Henri Rivière | ||||||||||||||
6 | 5 | Belgium I | ![]() | 5:32.51 | 1:22.09 (3) | 1:23.69 (6) | 1:22.94 (6) | 1:23.79 (7) | ||||||
Marcel Leclef • Albert Casteleyns | ||||||||||||||
7 | 9 | United States II | ![]() | 5:33.82 | 1:23.46 (7) | 1:24.48 (8) | 1:23.15 (7) | 1:22.73 (5) | ||||||
Fred Fortune, Jr. • Hank Whisher 1 | ||||||||||||||
8 | 15 | Sweden I | ![]() | 5:35.77 | 1:24.30 (11) | 1:23.92 (7) | 1:23.46 (8) | 1:24.09 (9) | ||||||
Olle Axelson • Jan de Man Lapidoth | ||||||||||||||
9 | 17 | Austria I | ![]() | 5:37.04 | 1:24.16 (10) | 1:24.54 (9) | 1:24.00 (9) | 1:24.34 (11) | ||||||
Karl Wagner • Franz Eckhardt | ||||||||||||||
10 | 1 | Italy II | ![]() | 5:37.22 | 1:23.86 (=8) | 1:24.71 (10) | 1:24.03 (10) | 1:24.62 (13) | ||||||
Alberto Della Beffa • Dario Colombi | ||||||||||||||
11 | 6 | Germany II | ![]() | 5:38.25 | 1:24.43 (12) | 1:25.22 (13) | 1:24.52 (13) | 1:24.08 (8) | ||||||
Theo Kitt • Fritz Kuhn | ||||||||||||||
12 | 10 | Italy I | ![]() | 5:38.36 | 1:23.86 (=8) | 1:25.26 (14) | 1:24.80 (14) | 1:24.44 (12) | ||||||
Uberto Gillarduzzi • Luigi Cavalieri | ||||||||||||||
13 | 13 | Norway I | ![]() | 5:38.41 | 1:24.52 (13) | 1:24.77 (11) | 1:24.24 (12) | 1:24.88 (14) | ||||||
Arne Holst • Kåre Christiansen | ||||||||||||||
14 | 3 | Norway II | ![]() | 5:39.62 | 1:26.33 (15) | 1:24.82 (12) | 1:24.23 (11) | 1:24.24 (10) | ||||||
Erik Tandberg • James Hayden | ||||||||||||||
15 | 16 | Sweden II | ![]() | 5:42.82 | 1:25.76 (14) | 1:25.84 (15) | 1:25.65 (15) | 1:25.57 (15) | ||||||
Kjell Holmström • Nils Landgren | ||||||||||||||
16 | 2 | Austria II | ![]() | 5:53.86 | 1:30.27 (18) | 1:28.30 (16) | 1:27.78 (16) | 1:27.51 (16) | ||||||
Heinz Hoppichler • Wilfried Thurner | ||||||||||||||
17 | 7 | France I | ![]() | 5:55.31 | 1:29.68 (17) | 1:28.84 (17) | 1:28.71 (17) | 1:28.08 (17) | ||||||
Robert Guillard • Joseph Chatelus | ||||||||||||||
18 | 14 | Belgium II | ![]() | 5:58.28 | 1:29.49 (16) | 1:29.00 (18) | 1:29.29 (18) | 1:30.50 (18) | ||||||
Charles De Sorgher • André De Wulf |