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Germans lead Olympic two-man race with USA’s Holcomb in the medal picture
WHISTLER, B.C., Canada - At the midway point of the Olympic two-man bobsled race, Steve Holcomb of Park City, Utah raced into fourth place on Saturday night and has positioned himself for the first medal of his career.
A two-time Olympian, Holcomb, with Curt Tomasevicz, of Shelby, Neb., on the brake, is just .12 of a second from the podium after two of four heats. The competition concludes Sunday with a
4 pm PT start at the Whistler Sliding Center.
"The first heat I had a really great run except I had a mistake and you saw I nearly crashed it," said Holcomb, moments after stepping out of his Bo-Dyn Night Hawk sled. "For a split second, the alarms were going off in my head."
German sleds hold the top two positions overnight, led by top pilot Andre Lange, who will try to win his fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal dating back to 2002.
Lange’s two runs down the fast and cranky 16-turn course, dropping 50 stories, were timed in one minute, 43.31 seconds. Teammate Thomas Florschuetz benefitted from the clear, cool conditions to set a track record 51.57 in the opening leg. He moved into second place, .11 from Lange, in 1:43.42.
Holcomb, the 2009 World Champion in four man, used a strong start and was blistering the opening heat with the fastest split time before encountering some difficulties in the curve 11-12-13 combination. Holcomb righted his Bo-Dyn sled but drifted back into sixth place after one heat.
However, the fourth best second run, together with the unfortunate crash of Canadian driver Lyndon Rush, enabled Holcomb to overtake two sleds to settle into fourth.
"We are in position to get a medal," said Holcomb, who clocked in with 1:43.93."We’re a half second from the silver, so I don’t know about that. But this track is tough, and as you saw with the crashes tonight, it’s never over."
A total of 27 sleds began competition. Five of them failed to complete two runs.
Holcomb is backed by Olympic rookie John Napier, of Schenectady, N.Y., with brakeman Steve Langton, of Melrose, Mass. They were 11th in 1:44.73.
Driver Mike Kohn, of Fairfax, Va., with Nick Cunningham, of Monterrey, Calif., was next in 1:45.18. Kohn won a 2002 four man Olympic bronze medal pushing for driver Brian Shimer who is now his coach. This is Kohn’s first Olympics as a driver, and tonight marked only his seventh and eighth runs at Whistler.
"When I was in school I waited for the night before the exam to study," quipped Kohn. "Well it seems like it’s haunting me now."
