Germany not only leads the pack halfway through the two-man bobsled in the Olympics on Monday ¡ª they also held second and fourth places, underlining the dominance of the country that is home to a quarter of the world¡¯s bobsled tracks.

Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis clocked 1:58.38 on two laps, 0.15 seconds ahead of teammates Johannes Lochner and Florian Bauer and 0.94 seconds ahead of a Russian Olympic Committee team.

Friedrich lifted his fourth overall World Cup title in a row last month and along with Margis, boast golds from the 2018 Pyeongchang Games in the two-man competition ¡ª where they tied with Canada¡¯s Justin Kripps and Cam Stones for first place ¡ª and the four-man event.