BERLIN, March 1 -- German athlete Francesco Friedrich has defended his title of world champion in the 4-man bobsleigh on Sunday at the IBSF World Championships in Altenberg, Germany and the Olympic champion has also seen his third consecutive win in the event.

From a sporting thriller on the first day of World Championship action when a mere 0.09 seconds separated the top five teams, the final day turned out to be an even more tense sequel.

After the third run, the teams of Friedrich, Nico Walther and Johannes Lochner, all from Germany, led the field - separated by just a single hundredth of a second between the top three with Friedrich and Walther tied in first place.

During the final heat, Friedrich and his team of Candy Bauer, Martin Grothkopp and Alexander Schueller pushed 0.05 seconds ahead to win the gold in the 4-man bobsleigh.

"Today has just been crazy, simply unbelievable. The track is lined with fans from top to bottom. Today could not have been better for us. We stood with the sled in the garage yesterday and made a few adjustments. We also looked at our runs again. And we were rewarded - an unbelievable team effort from us," said Friedrich, who was also the 2018 Olympic champion and 2017, 2019 world champion in the event.

Silver went to the European champion Lochner with Florian Bauer, Christopher Weber and Christian Rasp.

Walther with Paul Krenz, Joshua Bluhm and Eric Franke (0.23 seconds back) ended up with bronze. After the race, the 2018 Olympic silver medallist announced his retirement.

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