Bobsleigh World Cup: British four-man team win at Altenberg for second gold in three races

Hall is now second in the overall World Cup standings

Great Britain's four-man bobsleigh team clinched a second World Cup gold in three races with victory in Altenberg.

Pilot Brad Hall, fresh from steering GB to silver in the two-man at the German track on Saturday, picked up an eighth medal in 10 World Cup races this season - including four in the four-man.

Hall, 32, finished ahead of three German teams, beating Christoph Hafer into second place by just 0.09 seconds.

GB's second four-man victory followed gold at Lake Placid in December.

Johannes Lochner, who beat Hall into second place in the two-man, finished third, while double Olympic champion Francesco Friedrich was fourth.

Consistently fast starts have been key to Britain's medal-winning form this season, as they bid to break the dominance of a German team that took a clean sweep of the medals at the Winter Olympics 11 months ago.

The British team of Hall, Taylor Lawrence, Greg Cackett and Arran Gulliver put in the second-fastest start in the first run and were fastest on the second.

They held a 0.07-second lead over Hafer going into the final run and extended that by a fraction to finish with an overall time of 1:48.22.

As well as golds in Altenberg and Lake Placid, the four man-team have also won two silvers, and finished fourth in the other race this season.

Victory on the Germans' home track strengthened Hall's grip on second place in the overall World Cup standings, moving him to within 15 points of leader Friedrich.

Altenberg will host back-to-back rounds of the World Cup, with the season's sixth race, which doubles up as the European Championships, taking place on the track from 21-22 January. Attention then turns to the World Championships in St Moritz at the end of the month.