ALTENBERG, Germany -- Rudi Lochner and Markus Zimmermann of Germany edged last year's champions Gustav Weder and Curdin Morell of Switzerland by 0.02 of a second Sunday to claim the two-man bobsled world championship.
The Germans clocked a combined time of 3 minutes, 49.47 seconds for their four runs Saturday and Sunday to take the gold ahead of the Swiss pair.
Six-time World Champion Wolfgang Hoppe of Germany finished third with his partner Rene Hannemann in 3:50.51. His bronze position was never endangered by the Canadians Greg Haydenluck and Chris Farstad, who trailed the veteran by 1.09 seconds.
'I didn't think we could win after the third run,' Lochner said. 'But I hoped that Weder would make little mistakes in the final run. And he did make them.'
Weder had raced down the extremely difficult run in 56.78 seconds, setting a track record and adding 0.14 of a second to his slim 0.06 of a second overnight advantage over the Germans with only one run to go.
But like Lochner, who had a terrible second run Saturday, Weder was unable to produce four perfect runs. While the Germans set the fastest time in the final run, they had to settle for the silver.
Lochner, 37, who wanted to end his career this year, now will continue until the 1992 Winter Olympics at Albertville, France.
Meanwhile U.S. track and field star Edwin Moses competed in his the first major tournament of his bobsled career. Together with pilot Brian Shimer he finished seventh.
