Friedrich the leader midway through Olympic 4-man event

By TIM REYNOLDS
AP Sports Writer

BEIJING (AP) — Francesco Friedrich’s pursuit of the first Olympic bobsled double-double is off to the right kind of start. But Johannes Lochner is clearly not going to let his German teammate win easily. Friedrich is seeking a fourth Olympic gold medal and his team of Thorsten Margis, Candy Bauer and Alexander Schueller took the lead at the midpoint of the four-man race at the Beijing Games in 1 minute, 57 seconds flat. That’s a mere 0.03 seconds ahead of Lochner and his team of Florian Bauer, Christopher Weber and Christian Rasp.