Bobsled: Two down; four to go

 

WHISTLER, B.C. — Steve Holcomb will have to wait six more days for another chance to snap the U.S. bobsled team’s 62-year gold-medal-winning drought. 

On the ultra-fast track at the Whistler Sliding Centre, Holcomb and brakeman Curt Tomasevicz — known as the Night Hawk crew — slid to sixth place in the two-man bobsled competition. After four heats over two days, the Americans finished 1.29 seconds off the winning German sled piloted by Andre Lange.

“We were in the hunt today,” said Holcomb, 29, who earned a bronze medal at the 2009 World Championships in two-man. “Unfortunately, something didn’t work out. I thought I drove well, and we had two good pushes [off the start]. The sled was fast. It’s just the Germans had something today we didn’t.”

The three American sleds all seemed to struggle between curves 11 and 13 near the bottom of the track. After training here last year, Holcomb dubbed curve 13 the “50/50,” a reference to a sled’s chances of making it through the curve.

Holcomb struggled in the curve from his first heat in the two-man, saying “alarm bells were going off in my head,” as his sled tipped up on its side. Fortunately, he corrected the problem before the sled tipped all the way over.

More than one coach was seen grimacing and holding up his hands to his head when his team’s sleds hit the 50/50.

When asked what the key is to making it through the 50/50 smoothly — and without crashing — Holcomb said that you just have to be ready for it.

“Curve 11 is right where you pick up the most speed,” he explained. “You feel like you’ve been shot out of a cannon. Curve 11 into 12 is really, really quick. As soon as you pick up that speed, you hit 12, and it catches a lot of people off guard [and they can’t recover]. That’s why it’s causing so many problems.”

John Napier, a 23-year-old driver who grew up in Lake Placid, N.Y., particularly struggled with the 50/50. In his fourth heat, his sled tipped up on its side, and the crowd at the finish (watching on a TV monitor) gasped.

Napier and brakeman Steven Langton finished a disappointing 10^th. 

“This track has been a struggle for me,” said Napier, who is a sergeant in the Army National Guard. “This has been the toughest week of my life bobsledding. I’ve really had to fight through it and re-learn a lot of things just because of the speed.”

“I could have easily been on my head tonight [in the 50/50],” he added, “and I’m very grateful not to be.”

Both Napier and Mike Kohn — who piloted the U.S.’s third sled — compared the track to their home track in Lake Placid, only faster. 

“If you were to take the Lake Placid track, the tight turns there, and then throw yourself down it 10 to 15 miles per hour faster,” said Napier, “that’s how it would feel.”

“I feel fortunate having Lake Placid as my home track,” added Kohn. “I take as many runs down that track as I can because there’s a lot of jerking and hoping and praying there too. I won’t say that I feel uncomfortable here because I’m used to feeling that way in Lake Placid.”

Kohn came to the Olympics never having slid on the Whistler track before, but he wouldn’t let fear creep into his head. With Mike Cunningham as brakeman, Kohn finished 12^th.

“We beat some people today,” he joked. “Eleven more and we would have had a gold medal.”

Now the Americans have six days to prepare themselves mentally and physically for the four-man, where Holcomb is one of the favorites. 

The last U.S. driver to win an Olympic gold medal was Patrick Henry Martin in the four-man at the St. Moritz 1948 Olympic Winter Games. Of all the countries that regularly compete in bobsled, no other nation has waited longer than the U.S. for the next gold.

The reigning world champion in the four-man, Holcomb said he will be happy with any color medal. 

“A medal’s a medal,” he said. “We’ve been working hard for four years to get to the medals. Our goal is a gold medal. But so is everybody else’s.”

“If we get third place, hey, it’s a bronze medal,” Holcomb added. “To win a medal at the Olympic Games is huge.”

Napier, who has scored several World Cup podiums in both two- and four-man bobsled this year, also has his eye on a medal. Then after the Olympics, he may join his Guard unit in Afghanistan. But he is still unsure of the final plan.

“They won’t comment on that until the Games are over,” he said. “They want me doing my best here, representing my nation and the Army as best I can.”

Peggy Shinn is a freelance contributor for teamusa.org. This story was not subject to the approval of the United States Olympic Committee or any National Governing Bodies.

 

Tags: Bobsled, Curt Tomasevicz, Peggy Shinn, Steve Holcomb, Steven Holcomb, Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, Winter Olympics