--- title: Two-Man Bobsled Ends in Gold Medal Tie for Germany, Canada description: Two-man bobsled teams from Germany and Canada tied for gold medals at their 2018 Winter Olympics race, a surprising twist in a timed sport. canonical: https://time.com/5165994/two-man-bobsled-germany-canada-gold-medal-tie/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-20T02:52:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:46:21.904Z og:title: Germany and Canada Both Just Won Gold in a Rare Bobsled Tie og:description: The internet can't believe they got the exact same time in two-man bobsled og:url: https://time.com/5165994/two-man-bobsled-germany-canada-gold-medal-tie/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee9219988bd54ad9/69892837cf40a8935dc4b658/germany-canada-bobsled.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Bobsleigh - Winter Olympics Day 10 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Germany and Canada Both Just Won Gold in a Rare Bobsled Tie twitter:description: The internet can't believe they got the exact same time in two-man bobsled twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee9219988bd54ad9/69892837cf40a8935dc4b658/germany-canada-bobsled.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Germany and Canada Just Tied for Olympic Gold in a Rare Finish for Two-Man Bobsled  by [Raisa Bruner](/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Feb 20, 2018 2:52 AM CUT  Joint gold medalists Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis of Germany and Justin Kripps and Alexander Kopacz of Canada celebrate during the victory ceremony after the Men's 2-Man Bobsleigh on day 10 of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Olympic Sliding Centre on February 19, 2018 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea. Joint gold medalists Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis of Germany and Justin Kripps and Alexander Kopacz of Canada celebrate during the victory ceremony after the Men's 2-Man Bobsleigh on day 10 of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Olympic Sliding Centre on February 19, 2018 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea.Lars Baron—Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Feb 20, 2018 2:52 AM CUT In an unusual twist, both the German and Canadian two-man [bobsled](http://time.com/5104583/watch-the-nigerian-bobsled-teams-olympic-journey/ "undefined") teams won gold medals at the PyeongChang [2018 Winter Olympics](http://time.com/5163230/2018-winter-olympic-medal-tracker/ "undefined") after finishing with [exactly the same times](http://www.nbcolympics.com/news/canada-and-germany-tie-thrilling-2-man-bobsled "undefined"), down to the hundredth of a second. The team of Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis of Germany were apparently an absolutely perfect match for the duo of Justin Kripps and Alexander Kopacz of Canada in their event at the Olympic Sliding Center on Monday. They were followed by Latvian bobsledders Oskars Melbardis and Janis Strenga, who took bronze.  Justin Kripps and Alexander Kopacz of Canada celebrate as they win joint gold during the Men's 2-Man Bobsleigh on day 10 of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Olympic Sliding Centre on February 19, 2018 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea. Alexander Hassenstein—Getty Images With the top five teams separated by just 0.13 seconds on the fourth and final run — the bobsled medals are awarded based on cumulative time over four slides down the icy chute — it was going to be a close finish regardless. But the ultimate shocker was that both the Germans and Canadians ended up with that identical time. The last time two teams tied for Olympic gold in the two-man bobsled event was back in 1998, between the Canadians (again) and the Italians. (To combat this problem, [luge has already converted](http://time.com/5162408/winter-olympics-luge-vs-skeleton-vs-bobsled-explained/ "undefined") to scoring speed to the thousandths of a second.)  Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis of Germany reacts in the finish area following their final run during the Men's 2-Man Bobsleigh on day 10 of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Olympic Sliding Centre on February 19, 2018 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea. Lars Baron—Getty Images Naturally, the internet couldn’t help but be surprised with the result. In particular, people love that the Germans were so thrilled with the tie that they were the first to run over and congratulate their Canadian fellow medalists, proving that good sportsmanship at the Olympics is alive and well. > [](https://twitter.com/NBCOlympics/status/965767728865906695) > [](https://twitter.com/bre%5F%5Fzzy/status/965768379540889602) > [](https://twitter.com/Natasha%5FHot1047/status/965767716027142146) > [](https://twitter.com/jkuzmick/status/965767383410495489) > [](https://twitter.com/TimMokry/status/965773627923681280) > [](https://twitter.com/TylerSmall9/status/965772203932442624) > [](https://twitter.com/dianamcqueen/status/965762975859691520) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5165994/two-man-bobsled-germany-canada-gold-medal-tie/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5165994/two-man-bobsled-germany-canada-gold-medal-tie/"},"headline":"Germany and Canada Just Tied for Olympic Gold in a Rare Finish for Two-Man Bobsled","datePublished":"2018-02-20T02:52:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:46:21.904Z","description":"Two-man bobsled teams from Germany and Canada tied for gold medals at their 2018 Winter Olympics race, a surprising twist in a timed sport.","url":"https://time.com/5165994/two-man-bobsled-germany-canada-gold-medal-tie/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Winter Olympics","onetime","2018 Pyeongchang Olympics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee9219988bd54ad9/69892837cf40a8935dc4b658/germany-canada-bobsled.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee9219988bd54ad9/69892837cf40a8935dc4b658/germany-canada-bobsled.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Bobsleigh - Winter Olympics Day 10","caption":"Bobsleigh - Winter Olympics Day 10","creditText":"Lars Baron—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5165994/two-man-bobsled-germany-canada-gold-medal-tie/","name":"Germany and Canada Just Tied for Olympic Gold in a Rare Finish for Two-Man Bobsled"}}]}] ```