BEAR HOLLOW — Last week, an official of the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation predicted that choosing the second team to represent U.S. men bobsledders at the Winter Olympics would amount to "a tremendous dogfight" between Brian Shimer and Mike Dionne.
Friday afternoon, that prediction was proving true.
After four of seven World Cup races, Todd Hays of Del Rio, Texas, and crew are leading the planet in men's bobsled, both in two- and four-man events. Their high standing guarantees them a spot in the Olympic lineup.
Altogether, the U.S. men's bobsled lineup will feature 10 men.
Making up this roster will be two four-men sleds, two two-men sleds picked from among the four-man athletes, and two alternates.
With one position already assigned to Hays' sled, the real battle is for second. When Hays came in first on Friday, the No. 2 spot was indeed a dogfight between Shimer and Dionne, with Shimer edging ahead.
Final determination will be announced late today after races resume at the Utah Olympic Park. Two-men and four-men results will be combined in making the choice.
During Friday's session of the Verizon Championship Series, first place went to Hays and crew of Randy Jones (Atlanta), Pavle Jovanovic (Toms River, N.J.) and Garrett Hines (Atlanta), with a time of 1:34.40 in two heats.
Second were Shimer and his crew, Mike Kohn (Chantilly, Va.), Doug Sharp (Jeffersonville, Ind.) and Dan Steele (Rock Island, Ill.), at 1:34.53.
Following closely behind were Dionne and his team, Justin Orr (Minooka, Ill.), Steve Mesler (Buffalo, N.Y.) and Jamey Sperle (Reva, S.D.), who were less than half a second behind Shimer at a combined time of 1:34.98.
The selection of skeleton athletes for the Winter Games will be based on four races. The races will continue Sunday and next weekend.
E-mail: bau@desnews.com