Steven Holcomb (Park City, Utah), Curt Tomasevicz (Shelby, Neb.), Steve Langton (Melrose, Mass.) and Chris Fogt (Alpine, Utah) moved up a spot from last night to claim bronze in today’s four-man bobsled Olympic finale at the Sanki Sliding Center.
“I’m very happy,” Holcomb said. “We came here to win a medal. It was a tough race, and it wasn’t easy. Coming away with a bronze medal, we’re pretty satisfied.”
The last time the U.S. won medals in both the two-man and four-man events was when Stanley Benham claimed double silver medals at the 1952 Oslo Games, making it yet another 62-year record for Holcomb. Holcomb broke a 62-year gold medal drought for the U.S. by winning the four-man race in the 2010 Vancouver Games, and claimed the first two-man medal for the program in 62-years when he finished third at the Sanki Sliding Center on Monday. He is the first American bobsled pilot to ever win three Olympic medals.
When asked if he knew how many years it had been since an American won a medal in both the two-man and four-man, Holcomb said, “Please say 62.”
“It’s mind blowing,” Holcomb said. “It’s meant to be I guess.”
USA-1 was fourth at the midway point, just 0.01 seconds from bronze medal position. The team caught Germans Maximilian Arndt, Marko Huebenbecker, Alexander Roediger and Martin Putze in the third heat to regain medal position after posting the fastest push time of the run, 4.78 seconds, and a finish time of 55.30. The Germans dropped back a few positions, but Russia’s second sled of Alexander Kasjanov, Ilvir Huzin, Maxim Belugin and Aleksei Pushkarev threw down a speedy third run that moved them into contention just behind USA-1.
The medals were decided in a nail-biting fourth and final heat. Kasjanov posted the fastest time of the fourth heat to threaten the top three sleds for a podium position. USA-1 again posted the fastest start time, 4.78 seconds, but Holcomb struggled with corner five. Their advantage over RUS-2 began to shrink, and it came to 0.03 seconds between fourth place and a medal, the same gap that secured him a bronze in the two-man race.
“Three and 62, I think I need to play those numbers in Vegas,” Holcomb joked.
Holcomb piloted his Bodyn Night Train 2 sled to the finish in 55.33 seconds for a total time of 3:40.99. Tomasevicz, Langton and Fogt threw their arms up in celebration, but it took Holcomb a moment to realize he had secured at least a bronze medal.
“When we came out of corner 15 I could see the board and saw green, so I knew we were ahead,” Holcomb said. “I thought, ‘don’t mess up, don’t mess up.’ But I didn’t see the clock when we crossed the finish line, so it wasn’t until we were at the finish dock that I knew we had it.”
Latvians Oskars Melbardis, Daumants Dreiskens, Arvis Vilkaste and Janis Strenga maintained their position to secure silver with a total of 3:40.69. Alexander Zubkov and his crew of Alexey Negodaylo, Dmitry Trunenkov and Alexey Voevoda were victorious by a mere 0.09 seconds with a four-run combined time of 3:40.60. Zubkov is only the sixth person to win two-man and four-man gold medals in the same Olympics, and just the second non-German to accomplish the feat.
To read the full article, please visit TeamUSA.org.
