CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy — Johannes Lochner went out on top, and Germany capped another dazzling Olympic display with another dominant bobsled show at the Milan Cortina Games.
Lochner — who announced his retirement months ago — capped his career with his second gold medal of these Olympics, winning the four-man event over two-time defending Olympic champion Francesco Friedrich by 0.57 seconds on Sunday in the final sliding event of these Games.
''It's just such a dream. … It's indescribable,'' Lochner said. ''A moment for eternity. A perfect finish, the most perfect finish ever.''
But it wasn't a German sweep: Switzerland got the bronze, with Michael Vogt overtaking Germany's Adam Ammour in the fourth and final run to secure that third-place spot. Ammour settled for fourth.
Lochner's four-run time was 3 minutes, 37.57 seconds. Friedrich — Germany's all-time leader in just about every category imaginable — finished in 3:38.14, Vogt in 3:38.64 and Ammour in 3:38.68.
''A year and a half ago, Hansi asked me to come in his sled and we made a plan,'' said pusher Thorsten Margis, who won four Olympic golds with Friedrich and now has a fifth with Lochner. ''It's quite cool if such a plan works out, and it's pretty amazing to beat the most successful bobsleigh pilot in the world.''
Kris Horn had the top U.S. sled, finishing 11th with Caleb Furnell, Hunter Powell and Carsten Vissering in his sled. Frank Del Duca was 12th for the U.S., with Boone Niederhofer, Bryan Sosoo and Josh Williamson in his sled.
''I'm trying to find the words to explain it,'' Del Duca said. ''We are medal contenders, so to not have a medal hurts. But to be able to walk away from the competition, knowing that we gave maximum effort and maximum preparation, and then be able to see our family in the stands and feel the love from them, feel the support from each other … as hard as it is to walk away empty-handed, we have very full hearts with the support that we have.''
