LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (Oct. 24, 2016)-Elana Meyers Taylor (Douglasville, Ga.) and Lolo Jones (Des Moines, Iowa) were on top of the leader board in today’s women’s USA Bobsled National Team Trials race in Lake Placid, while Codie Bascue (Whitehall, N.Y.) and Adrian Adams (Reidsville, N.C.) were once again on top in the men’s field.
Meyers Taylor claimed a bronze medal in the 2016 World Championship to earn a bye onto the team this season. She’s spent the time on early ice to test equipment and work with various push athletes leading into the World Cup season.
“What we found in push championships is that we have a lot of really great brakeman, which is a good thing and a bad thing too,” Meyers Taylor said. “Everyone is pushing fast so it’s going to make the selection committee’s job a little difficult, but it’s a good problem to have. I know I’ll push fast with all of them, which is awesome.”
Meyers Taylor teamed with track and field and bobsled Olympian Jones for the fastest start times of the day, 5.46 and 5.45 seconds. Meyers Taylor threaded together the quickest runs of 57.90 and 57.91 for a total time of 1:55.81 to take the lead by 0.31 seconds. She said having the bye has been advantageous starting the season, especially since she had a rollercoaster year last season while rehabilitating from an injury.
“We’re using this opportunity to test equipment on race ice, and for me to test my lead-up to races in general,” Meyers Taylor said. “The last two years have been really rocky, so I’m getting back into the flow of things. I feel good, I feel healthy.
“The bye can hurt you in some respects because it’s hard to get that pump-up for races and that motivation, but at the same time it is nice to come in and be more relaxed and take some chances with equipment and brakeman and just worry about trying to see how fast we can go down the hill instead of beating people.”
Olympic bronze medalist Jamie Greubel Poser (Newtown, Pa.) teamed with Lauren Gibbs (Los Angeles, Calif.) for second place with a combined time of 1:56.12. The duo powered off the start line in 5.57 and 5.55 seconds for runs of 58.07 and 58.05 seconds, respectively.
Kristi Koplin (Cedar City, Utah) and Briauna Jones (Summerville, S.C.) posted the third and fourth fastest runs of the race, 58.60 and 58.74, for a two-run combined time of 1:57.34. With one spot on the national team already secured by Meyers Taylor, Greubel Poser and Koplin are in position to snag the second and third spots at the halfway point of selection races.
Bascue raced to his second win in as many days, posting individual downtimes of 56.37 and 56.04 en route to a 1:52.41 combined time. The 22-year-old topped the field of six sleds yesterday in the first USA Bobsled National Team Trials race, beating out Justin Olsen (San Antonio, Texas) and Olympians Steve Holcomb (Park City, Utah) and Nick Cunningham (Monterey, Calif.), who took second, third and fourth, respectively.
“There were a couple of moments where I was pretty nervous wondering if I can replicate what I did yesterday, but at the end of the day, I just got back to business and was ready to go,” Bascue said. “These guys have been awesome all week. They’ve been working so hard, Chris [Kinney] and Adrian have been pushing well all week. Tony Carlino and his crew have done amazing job on the track, and it was just an awesome week.”
Today Cunningham, pushing with Jimmy Reed (Garmisch, Germany), finished second with times of 56.39 and 56.28 for a 1:52.67, just ahead of Holcomb and Carlo Valdes (Newport Beach, Calif.), who finished with a combined time of 1:52.78. Olsen and Evan Weinstock (Las Vegas, Nev.) crashed in The Heart as they neared the end of their first run of the day. The second-year pilot was unable to complete the race, but is expected to compete in the Park City, Utah portion of the competition.
Results:
Men’s bobsled
1. Codie Bascue and Adrian Adams 1:52.41 (56.37, 56.04);
2. Nick Cunningham and Jimmy Reed 1:52.67 (56.39, 56.28);
3. Steve Holcomb and Carlo Valdes 1:52.78 (56.43, 56.35);
4. Hunter Church and Hakeem Abdul-Saboor 1:55.69 (57.90, 57.79);
5. Geoffrey Gadbois and Dillon Schrodt 1:55.85 (58.05, 57.80);
6. Justin Olsen and Evan Weinstock 1:02.68 (DNS, DNF)
Women’s bobsled
1. Elana Meyers Taylor and Lolo Jones 1:55.81 (57.90, 57.91);
2. Jamie Greubel Poser and Lauren Gibbs 1:56.12 (58.07, 58.05);
3. Kristi Koplin and Briauna Jones 1:57.39 (58.73, 58.66);
4. Brittany Reinbolt and Terra Evans 1:57.39 (58.73, 58.66);
5. Nicole Vogt and Bonnie Kilis 1:58.09 (59.12, 58.97)
