BEIJING (AP) — There aren’t any rear-view mirrors on a bobsled, which is becoming when contemplating Francesco Friedrich’s method to the game.
He doesn’t look again. Solely ahead.
That’s why the best males’s bobsledder on the earth proper now — and doubtless ever — has no need to speak about his legacy or what he’s already achieved up to now. His thoughts is at all times on the following factor, the following race, the following problem. And proper now, meaning the Beijing Olympics, the place the beginning of the lads’s bobsled competitors comes Monday with the primary two runs of the two-man occasion.
“He’s a particular man,” U.S. bobsledder Carlo Valdes stated. “He’s going to go down as one of the best, most profitable, pilot in historical past. He’s been doing this for a very long time and there’s a purpose why he wins so many medals, world championships, gold and gold within the Olympics in 2018. It’s cool to have the ability to compete in opposition to him. It’s additionally annoying: He wins on a regular basis and we’re like ‘Hey, we get it.’”
Valdes, good-naturedly, approaches Friedrich most each race week with a message: “It’s not going to be your week,” Valdes tells him.
And that prediction is normally very mistaken.
It’s not right to say that Friedrich at all times wins. It’s fairly shut, although. Going again to the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, Friedrich has competed in 71 main worldwide races — which means Olympics, World Cups and world championships.
He’s received 58 of these, or an absurd 82%.
He’s medaled in 67 of these, an much more absurd 94%. His worst finishes within the final 4 years: two fourth-places, one fifth-place and one Twelfth-place. That’s it.
“That’s what we do,” Friedrich stated. “That’s our job.”
He dominates his sport like only a few others have. He beats nearly everybody each single week. It might appear to be a recipe for resentment amongst his opponents.
It isn’t.
Friedrich’s title is all over the place in bobsledding — the report books, Olympic historical past, European historical past, and even U.S. sleds. Sure, actually. When the American males’s staff was fundraising earlier than this season started, anybody who donated not less than $500 was going to get rewarded by having their title added to the facet of one of many staff’s bobsleds.
Friedrich gave $500. True to their phrase, the People put his title on the sled.
“He’s considered one of my idols within the sport,” U.S. pilot and first-time Olympian Hunter Church stated. “I bear in mind when he received his first world championship medal and he acquired requested about his subsequent objective, and he stated, ‘it is a nice victory nevertheless it doesn’t matter till I’m one of the best bobsled driver of all-time.’ It was his mission to be one of many best. To try for constant greatness, or be higher than you have been the day earlier than, it’s what he’s carried out and it’s what is going to preserve me going.”
Bobsled is a kind of super-secretive sports activities. It’s an unwritten rule: Don’t ask pilots in regards to the know-how that goes into their sleds, don’t ask about method, don’t ask about setups. Some groups get upset in the event that they see anybody from one other nation even daring to take a look at considered one of their sleds.
Friedrich goes the opposite route. He doesn’t share all his secrets and techniques, however sufficient. The $500 present to the U.S. program was removed from the primary time he’s donated cash to different groups; he additionally acquired his title on Benjamin Maier’s sled for Austria this season after sponsoring that program, too.
“Francesco thought it will be humorous if his title was on my sled,” Maier stated.
Factor is, Friedrich doesn’t actually suppose it’s humorous. He provides cash as a result of he can, as a result of it’s the suitable factor to do — and since he feels a duty to develop the game, even when meaning serving to rivals.
“The day that there’s a restricted quantity of sleds on the World Cup tour is the day the game dies,” Valdes stated. “You’ll be able to see that he’s simply making an attempt to do his half to maintain it going.”
Right here’s maybe one of the best instance of that: The four-man sled that Friedrich used to win gold in Pyeongchang is right here on the Beijing Video games — now painted in Canada colours.
He offered it to them.
“He undoubtedly wouldn’t have offered the sled if he didn’t have one thing higher, proper?” stated Canadian pilot Justin Kripps, who tied Friedrich for the two-man gold on the Pyeongchang Video games. “It’s a really costly merchandise to have sitting in your storage unused, so I can see why he offered it.”
Kripps and Friedrich are shut pals. Kripps is without doubt one of the easiest on the earth at what he does, a real medal contender. And even he has little question about who the favourite is in Beijing.
“He wins every part, proper? So, clearly, folks would think about him the one to beat,” Kripps stated. “I believe additionally they thought-about him the one to beat going into 2018, and he’s much more dominant now.”
Friedrich desires no a part of that considering.
He’s modest, nearly to a fault. He talks about how a lot he enjoys engaged on his sled, constructing relationships along with his teammates, supporting others. He’ll speak about nearly something.
Something, that’s, besides his personal success. Possibly sometime. Not but. There’s extra to win.
“That doesn’t matter on this second,” Friedrich stated. “We have now to arrange within the second for this. When that’s over, we are able to speak about it. I’ve a job and I do what I can do. That’s what’s enjoyable to me and that’s my motivation. Daily, I’ve enjoyable.”
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