Canadians Pierre Lueders and Dave Maceachern claimed the World Cup two-man bobsled season championship when they won the season-ending competition Saturday at a 1998 Winter Olympic site.
Lueders and Maceachern were fastest on both runs for their fourth World Cup gold medal of the season with an aggregate time of 1 minute, 48.43 seconds.The triumph put them in a tie in the final standings at 224 points with European champions Guenther Huber and Antonio Tartaglia of Italy, who finished fifth in the final race.
The Canadians, however, clinched the overall championship on the strength of four gold medals, compared to only one victory posted by the Italians this season.
The American team of Jim Herberich and John Kasper and world champions Reto Goetschi and Guido Acklin of Switzerland shared second place at 1:48.91.
The final World Cup meet will also feature a four-man race Tuesday and another four-man competition Wednesday at the Spiral Bobsleigh and Luge Track, a venue for the Nagano Olympics.
The event Tuesday is meant to make up for a race canceled last week at the World Cup leg in Calgary due to bad weather.