Johannes Lochner in the four-man bobsleigh: Last ride and another gold at the Olympics

An Sunday afternoon, when the sun was high above the peaks on another glorious day in the Dolomites, the crowds made a pilgrimage from the finish line of the bobsleigh run down a few curves down the slope. More people came than ever before in the past two weeks: there were friends and relatives of the athletes, supporters wearing national colors, and colleagues like Lisa Buckwitz and Laura Nolte. The grand finale in the ice channel ended on a plateau with a panoramic view over the snow-covered Olympic town of 1956 and 2026. Johannes Lochner and his crew, Thorsten Margis, Jörn Wenzel and Georg Fleischhauer, accepted the gold medal for the four-man bobsleigh competition to cheers. Francesco Friedrich stood there applauding with his team, Matthias Sommer, Alexander Schuller and Felix Staub. Lochner triumphed again with a lead of 0.57 seconds. “A moment for eternity,” as he thought.