The German pairing of Nico Walter and Christian Poser were race winners, taking the gold and beat off the challenge of the USA who took silver and bronze.
Twenty seven sleds competed in race 1, a stacked field at the Lake Placid track, but it was a sombre mood with the competition missing the great USA pilot Olympic Champion Steven Holcomb who passed away earlier this year at the age of 37.
Preparation and training had been interrupted due to the unseasonably warm weather in upstate New York in recent days.
After heat one the top 5 sleds were separated by 0.10(s) with Walther/Poser (GER) leading from Peter/Friedli (SUI) and Cunningham/Bailey (USA) in third. Kripps/Lumsden (CAN) and Olsen/Langton (USA) were tied in 4th only 0.01(s) behind.
In the second heat Peter slipped out of the medals and young USA pilot Codie Bascue took his chance and moved up to silver medal position with brakeman Valdes, his first World Cup podium finish.
Cunningham took the silver and he was partnered by USA sprinter Ryan Bailey one of the latest athletes to switch to Winter sport following his impressive performance at the USA bobsleigh combine testing event. Bailey, finished fifth in the London 2012 Olympic 100 metres.
But Nico Walter was a class above and took the victory 0.11(s) ahead of his nearest rival his first ever 2-man World Cup victory.
Great Britain’s sleds Hall/Olubi finished 19th and Tasker/Fearon 26th.
The action in 2-man continues tomorrow in the revised race schedule which sees the second 2-man race of the BMW IBSF World Cup series.
RacerReady will be reporting the results and views from the world cup races immediately the action finishes.
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