From Sochi, Russia
It’s another tight race after two heats of four-man bobsled from Russia. On home ice, the Olympic flag bearer Alexander Zubkov leads Oskars Melbardis, who won the 2013 test event in Sochi. The Latvian team came into the second heat fifth, but had an immaculate run to move up the order. Max Arndt of Germany and Steven Holcomb came into the second heat second and third, but will go into the second day of sliding third and fourth, separated by only .01. Fifth place belongs to Thomas Florschütz, marking the best bobsled or skeleton run for Germany in these Olympics.
A late change in who was pushing who for Canada did seem to help a little bit. On Friday the decision was made to swap push-teams between Justin Kripps and Christopher Spring. The end-result was lost though, as Kripps flipped mid-run. The Canada-3 sled was able to cross the line, but will go into the final day of racing in 30th of 30 sleds. Spring sits tied for 13th after two runs, while teammate Lyndon Rush is the only Canadian sled in the top ten, in tenth.
The second American sled, piloted by Nick Cunningham went off to a bumpy start in the first run. Cunningham and company’s second run, though, was much better. He’ll go into the second day of four-man in 11th, just .31 behind Rush.
John Jackson has had, for the first time since his injury, a little time to rest. That resulted in two very solid pushes and a seventh place run going into the second day of sliding. Teammate Lamin Deen seems safely in the top 20 (the top 20 take a fourth run on Day 2) in a tie for 18th place.
Heath Spence of Australia is just outside the top 20 in 22nd, in a tie with Romania.
Results after Heats 1 & 2:
| Pos | Pilot | Nation | Draw | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Alexsandr Zubkov | RUS-1 | 3 | 54.82 | 55.37 | 1:50.19 |
| 2 | Oskars Melbardis | LAT-1 | 7 | 55.10 | 55.13 | 1:50.23 |
| 3 | Maximilian Arndt | GER-1 | 1 | 54.88 | 55.47 | 1:50.35 |
| 4 | Steven Holcomb | USA-1 | 2 | 54.89 | 55.47 | 1:50.36 |
| 5 | Thomas Florschütz | GER-3 | 4 | 55.06 | 55.42 | 1:50.48 |
| 6 | Alexander Kasjanov | RUS-2 | 6 | 55.11 | 55.41 | 1:50.52 |
| 7 | John James Jackson | GBR-1 | 12 | 55.26 | 55.27 | 1:50.53 |
| 8 | Beat Hefti | SUI-1 | 11 | 55.21 | 55.34 | 1:50.55 |
| 9 | Francesco Friedrich | GER-2 | 8 | 55.15 | 55.43 | 1:50.58 |
| 10 | Lyndon Rush | CAN-2 | 9 | 55.35 | 55.43 | 1:50.78 |
| 11 | Nick Cunningham | USA-2 | 13 | 55.61 | 55.48 | 1:51.09 |
| 12 | Edwin Van Calker | NED-1 | 14 | 55.55 | 55.57 | 1:51.12 |
| 13 | Oskars Kibermanis | LAT-2 | 16 | 55.68 | 55.52 | 1:51.20 |
| 13 | Christopher Spring | CAN-1 | 5 | 55.50 | 55.70 | 1:51.20 |
| 15 | Nikita Zakharov | RUS-3 | 15 | 55.74 | 55.53 | 1:51.27 |
| 16 | Jan Vrba | CZE-1 | 19 | 55.95 | 55.47 | 1:51.42 |
| 17 | Loic Costerg | FRA-1 | 22 | 55.82 | 55.68 | 1:51.50 |
| 18 | Lamin Deen | GBR-2 | 18 | 55.91 | 55.60 | 1:51.51 |
| 18 | Simone Bertazzo | ITA-1 | 17 | 55.78 | 55.73 | 1:51.51 |
| 20 | Yonjong Won | KOR-1 | 21 | 56.12 | 55.97 | 1:52.09 |
| 21 | Benjamin Maier | AUT-1 | 24 | 56.25 | 56.11 | 1:52.36 |
| 22 | Andreas Neagu | ROU-1 | 25 | 56.25 | 56.16 | 1:52.41 |
| 22 | Heath Spence | AUS-1 | 23 | 56.20 | 56.21 | 1:52.41 |
| 24 | Thibault Alexis Godefroy | FRA-2 | 30 | 56.37 | 56.27 | 1:52.64 |
| 25 | Hiroshi Suzuki | JPN-1 | 20 | 56.41 | 56.42 | 1:52.83 |
| 26 | Milan Jagnesak | SVK-1 | 28 | 56.56 | 56.37 | 1:52.93 |
| 27 | Dawid Kupczyk | POL-1 | 26 | 56.57 | 56.45 | 1:53.02 |
| 28 | Edson Bindilatti | BRA-1 | 27 | 56.86 | 56.74 | 1:53.60 |
| 29 | Donghyun Kim | KOR-2 | 29 | 56.98 | 56.77 | 1:53.75 |
| 30 | Justin Kripps | CAN-3 | 10 | 55.17 | 59.91 | 1:55.08 |
