2013/2014 FIBT World Cup – Lake Placid – Four-Man Bobsled

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. IMG_7187 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