German men lead after Day 1 of bobsleigh worlds

Johannes Lochner and Francesco Friedrich gave Germany a 1-2 lead in the two-man bob competition at the world championships after the opening two heats on Saturday in Igls, Austria.

Canada's Chris Spring in 5th

Johannes Lochner and Joshua Bluhm of Germany are the leaders after two runs at the during two-men bobsleigh world championships in Igls, Austria, on Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016. (Johann Groder/AFP/Getty Images)

Johannes Lochner and Francesco Friedrich gave Germany a 1-2 lead in the two-man bob competition at the world championships after the opening two heats on Saturday in Igls, Austria.

Junior world champion Lochner and his pushing partner, Joshua Bluhm, finished in an aggregate time of one minute, 43.12 seconds to lead Friedrich and Thorsten Margis by 0.15. Friedrich is the two-time defending world champion, while Lochner took silver last year.

Defending overall World Cup champions Oskars Melbardis and Daumants Dreiskens, who opened with a track record but dropped to third after the second run, were 0.17 behind.

Canada's Chris Spring and Lacelles Brown are fifth, 0.35 seconds behind the leaders. Fellow Canadians Justin Kripps and Alexander Kopacz are ninth, 0.58 seconds back.

The final two heats are on Sunday and the action can be streamed live on CBCSports.ca, beginning at 3:30 a.m ET.

With files from CBC Sports