From Lake Placid, USA
Steven Holcomb remains perfect. The American bobsled pilot has dominated every aspect of the North American swing of FIBT, having won every two and four man competition, culminating with a win on home ice in Lake Placid Sunday. Holcomb and company had the only two starts in the sub-five second range, and though the team’s second run was only third quickest, it was enough to win by .07.
Taking silver was Great Britain’s John Jackson. This is the first medal that the Brits have seen in four-man bobsled since 1998, and it came in style. Coming into the second run the lone British sled of the competition sat seventh, but a heat-fastest run combined with faltering German and Russian teams led to the podium finish for Jackson. German Thomas Florschuetz finished third, just .01 ahead of Canadian Christopher Spring, who took fourth. The Latvian team led by Oskars Melbardis took home fifth.
Weather may have played a bit of a factor in some disappointing runs by the rest of the American team. After sweeping the podium in two-man, Cory Butner and Nick Cunningham finished 15th and 17th, respectively. A disastrous sled-load led to a 21st place finish for Lyndon Rush, but Justin Kripps managed to put his sled in the top 10, making it two for Canada.
Results:
Pos | Pilot | Nation | Draw | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
1 | Steven Holcomb | USA | 10 | 54.97 | 55.18 | 1:50.15 |
2 | John Jackson | GBR | 3 | 55.22 | 55.00 | 1:50.22 |
3 | Thomas Florschuetz | GER | 8 | 55.17 | 55.23 | 1:50.40 |
4 | Chris Spring | CAN | 1 | 55.21 | 55.20 | 1:50.41 |
5 | Oskars Melbardis | LAT | 17 | 55.29 | 55.16 | 1:50.45 |
6 | Alexander Kasjanov | RUS | 4 | 55.21 | 55.26 | 1:50.47 |
7 | Maximillian Arndt | GER | 7 | 55.17 | 55.32 | 1:50.49 |
8 | Edwin van Calker | NED | 5 | 55.28 | 55.41 | 1:50.69 |
9 | Justin Kripps | CAN | 9 | 55.46 | 55.24 | 1:50.70 |
10 | Nikita Zakharov | RUS | 21 | 55.18 | 55.55 | 1:50.73 |
11 | Alexander Zubkov | RUS | 5 | 55.39 | 55.49 | 1:50.84 |
12 | Gregor Baumann | SUI | 23 | 55.57 | 55.34 | 1:50.91 |
13 | Jan Vrba | CZE | 19 | 55.53 | 55.45 | 1:50.98 |
14 | Francesco Friedrich | GER | 13 | 55.40 | 55.69 | 1:51.09 |
15 | Cory Butner | USA | 12 | 55.62 | 55.59 | 1:51.21 |
16 | Simone Bertazzo | ITA | 15 | 55.63 | 55.59 | 1:51.22 |
17 | Nick Cunningham | USA | 11 | 55.78 | 55.53 | 1:51.31 |
18 | Dawid Kupczyk | POL | 25 | 55.73 | 55.84 | 1:51.57 |
19 | Hiroshi Suzuki | JPN | 16 | 57.87 | 55.99 | 1:51.86 |
20 | Loic Costerg | FRA | 14 | 55.83 | 56.15 | 1:51.98 |
21 | Lyndon Rush | CANn | 2 | 55.94 | ||
22 | Heath Spence | AUS | 18 | 55.96 | ||
23 | Nicholae Istrate | ROU | 24 | 56.02 | ||
24 | Yunjong Won | KOR | 20 | 56.05 | ||
25 | Donghyun Kim | KOR | 22 | 56.64 |