A podium without Francesco Friedrich is unimaginable in bobsleigh. The German has dominated the world elite for years and is also the top favorite for the upcoming season. But the 32-year-old is not happy. He sees no future for his own sport.
Long-term champion Francesco Friedrich sees the future of bobsledding downright bleak. “The time will come when there will be no more bobsled. Our grandchildren will probably only learn about bobsleigh from the history books,” said the 32-year-old before leaving for the World Cup opener in Whistler, Canada (from November 21). the “World on Sunday”.
Friedrich justified his pessimistic assessments with negative developments in various areas. “We have almost no mass sport and hardly any competitive sport anymore. We are increasingly becoming a by-product of other sports: If an athlete doesn’t get ahead in their original sport, they usually try to push the bike with us, but fewer and fewer people are switching to bobsleigh sport doesn’t have a great reputation in our society. Despite great successes, there is no social security for life after sport,” complained the two-time Olympic champion.
The fight for sponsors is difficult even for the exceptional athlete Friedrich, who was the first pilot to win double gold for the second time in twos and fours in Beijing. Despite his numerous records, he still hasn’t collected the 250,000 euros needed for one season. “It’s a real Sisyphean task. No one throws a penny at us no matter what we’ve achieved. I’ve been bobsledding for 17 years and in all that time I’ve had one sponsor come up to me and give me an E -Mail wrote: “Come on, I want to do something with you”. One in 17 years!” reports the 13-time world champion from BSC Sachsen Oberbärenburg.
As an answer to urgent climate protection questions, Friedrich, who was the flag bearer of the German Olympic team at the Winter Games at the beginning of the year, calls for modern concepts from the associations as part of the fight for survival of his sport. From the point of view of the eleven-time world champion, the current training of the pilots to prepare for the coming season on artificially iced tracks “bites” with the energy crisis, but the responsible officials “in the sense of efficiency and the survival of our sport” have to make plans for “the ultimate of alternative energy supply”. Unlike many snow sports enthusiasts, bobsleigh, toboggan and skeleton pilots “have no way of doing our sport on any other medium”.
Despite all the problems, he is still passionate about his sport and wants to win double gold for the third time at the 2026 Winter Games, and he is also aiming for the 100 mark in World Cup victories. He currently has 66 on his books. Since the 2018/19 season, he has always been able to win the overall World Cup in both twos and fours.
