From Park City, USA
(December 3, 2024) – Geoff Gadbois came from behind to win in a close race with teammate Kris Horn in the third race of the North American Cup two-man bobsled tour.
Gadbois and brakeman Bryce Cheek trailed Horn and Martin Christofferson by just a hundredth of a second after the first run, with Canadian pilots Pat Norton and Taylor Austin both in the hunt in third and fourth respectively.
In the second heat Austin and Shane Ohrt slid to the lead ahead of Great Britain’s Joshua Hudson and Jens Hullah. Norton and Keaton Bruggeling pushed off next, and this time Norton was out-slid by .04 to tie the two Canadian teams for the lead with the two American sleds still to go.
Gadbois and Cheek were next. They lowered their start time by a hundredth of a second and set what would be the quick downtime of the competition to take the lead from the Cadians.
Horn and Christofferson were out-started by their teammates by .09 in the second heat. Horn was able to slide back to Gadbois, but ran out of track as he finished .01 behind Gadbois to win silver, with Gadbois winning gold.
Gadbois’ gold medal was his first in two-man bobsled since January 2019 in Calgary. Horn’s silver was his fourth in his last six NAC two-man races.
Behind the pair of Canadian bronze medalists, Hudson and Hullah finished fifth, with Canada’s Cyrus Gray and Shaq Murray-Lawrence rounding out the top six.
Brazilian pilot Edson Bindilatti finished just ahead of USA’s Grady Mercer, with Jay Deaborn and AJ Edelman rounding out the top ten.
Shane Fisher finished 11th for the United States.
Results:
Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Finish |
1 | Gadbois / Cheek | USA | 11 | 4.99 | 4.98 | 48.57 | 48.45 | 1:37.02 |
2 | Horn / Christofferson | USA | 9 | 5.05 | 5.07 | 48.56 | 48.47 | 1:37.03 |
3 | Austin / Ohrt | CAN | 12 | 5.06 | 5.01 | 48.70 | 48.59 | 1:37.29 |
3 | Norton / Bruggeling | CAN | 10 | 5.03 | 5.02 | 48.66 | 48.63 | 1:37.29 |
5 | Hudson / Hullah | GBR | 2 | 5.12 | 5.11 | 48.86 | 48.97 | 1:37.83 |
6 | Gray / Murray-Lawrence | CAN | 6 | 4.92 | 4.90 | 49.12 | 49.08 | 1:38.20 |
7 | Bindilatti / Martins | BRA | 8 | 5.02 | 5.02 | 49.10 | 49.13 | 1:38.23 |
8 | Mercer / Baylus | USA | 7 | 5.07 | 5.08 | 49.20 | 49.16 | 1:38.36 |
9 | Dearborn / M’Pindou | CAN | 13 | 5.05 | 5.02 | 49.35 | 49.32 | 1:38.67 |
10 | Edelman / Kirejevs | ISR | 4 | 5.33 | 5.38 | 49.30 | 49.56 | 1:38.86 |
11 | Fisher / Chase | USA | 17 | 5.07 | 5.12 | 49.45 | 49.63 | 1:39.08 |
12 | Ferreira / da Silva | BRA | 1 | 5.23 | 5.23 | 49.95 | 50.14 | 1:40.09 |
13 | Pitter / Bucknor | JAM | 3 | 5.04 | 5.04 | 49.93 | 50.83 | 1:40.76 |
14 | Lourimi / Laabidi | TUN | 16 | 5.23 | 5.19 | 50.67 | 50.58 | 1:41.25 |
15 | Spiliopoulos / Gaynor | ISR | 18 | 5.88 | 5.91 | 50.81 | 50.76 | 1:41.57 |
16 | Peters / Forst | AUS | 15 | 5.15 | 5.21 | 50.86 | 51.44 | 1:42.30 |
17 | Palakai / Donpirtee | THA | 14 | 5.19 | 5.22 | 51.86 | 51.15 | 1:43.01 |
18 | Scott / Needham | AUS | 5 | 5.23 | 5.25 | 53.89 | 49.64 | 1:43.53 |