Germany's bobsled team of Christoph Langen and Markus Zimmermann won the fourth World Cup race Friday at Igls, Austria, edging a U.S. team by only 0.09 of a point.
But the USA1 bobsled — Todd Hays of Del Rio, Texas, and his brakeman, Pavle Jovanovic of Toms River, N.J. — remains ranked first in overall standings for the World Cup.
In their last contest, Dec. 1 at Winterberg, Germany, Langen was first while Hays and Jovanovic were sixth.
Langen did not compete in the previous World Cup race, which was held in Lake Placid, N.Y., on Nov. 17. Hays (with brakeman Garrett Hines of Atlanta, Ga.), was first in that race by 0.24 seconds over Martin Annen and Cedric Grand of Switzerland.
Friday's contest was the fourth race in the two-man tour, which has seven races. Although Hays' point total keeps him in first, Langen is making an impressive showing.
Counting four-man bobsled races, it was "the third straight victory for Langen since the World Cup returned to Europe on December 1," says a press release by the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, based in Milan, Italy.
On Friday, third place belonged to another German team, Rene Spies and Franz Sagmeister.
The USA2 sled — Michael Dionne of Alpharetta, Ga., and Justin Orr of Minooka, Ill. — finished in 19th place. America's Joe McDonald, Kingston, N.Y., and Ivan Radcliffe, Cambridge, Mass., in USA3, were 23rd among the 36 teams.
In other news of sliding sports, images of American bobsled and skeleton athletes will be showing up on breakfast tables.
According to the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, pilot Jean Racine of Waterford, Mich., and Jen Davidson, Layton, will appear on packages of Kellogg's cereal. They will be on Crispix, Mini-Wheats Frosted Original and Mini-Wheats Honey Frosted Bite Size.
Jim Shea Jr., a skeleton slider from Lake Placid, N.Y., will be on Kellogg's Raisin Bran Crunch.
Racine and Davidson are ranked third in World Cup points, noted the U.S. federation's Julie Urbansky, Lake Placid, N.Y. Their next World Cup races are slated for Friday and Saturday of next week in Calgary, Canada.
Shea is third in World Cup skeleton rankings. World Cup skeleton competition resumes in Calgary next week, Tuesday through Friday.
E-mail: bau@desnews.com