Friedrich takes slim lead in two-man bobsleigh at Beijing Winter Olympics

YANQING, Beijing, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Francesco Friedrich of Germany built up a slim lead after Monday's first two heats of the two-man bobsleigh at the Beijing Olympic Winter Games.

Friedrich, who partnered with Thorsten Margis, posted a new track record of 59.02 seconds in the first heat, but slowed down in the second to open an overnight lead of 0.15 seconds after the two runs.

Another German pair of Johannes Lochner and Florian Bauer were 0.24 seconds behind in the first heat, but they narrowed the gap after the second heat.

Margis said they made some mistakes out of the sixth and 12th turn, which they will fix before the final two runs on Tuesday.

"I think Francesco will watch the video of the second run today. He will fix the problems and we will drive as good as the first run," he said.

"If he does that I am pretty confident that we will keep the (leading) position," he added.

Friedrich has aimed to win both the two-man and four-man bobsleigh golds in Beijing to repeat what he did at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

"Do you know what the ultimate coup would be? To repeat the double Olympic victory in Beijing. No pilot has ever done that either. That would be madness," he once said in 2018 December.