It’s extremely frustrating. I’m one of the best drivers on this track. I’ve had more runs here than anybody. I had a great run, drove really good. We were just so far behind at the start because of the conditions at the start, we had no chance. – Steve Holcomb
PARK CITY — After his first run, three-time Olympic bobsled pilot Steve Holcomb felt confident that his team could get on the podium at the Utah Olympic Park Friday night.
Park City is, after all, his home track and very few people (if any) know the track better than Holcomb.
“After the first run, we were in striking distance,” said the man who owns three Olympic medals and four world championship titles. “We were only two-tenths out (of the lead). I think we could have dropped the push time a little bit. Obviously, that didn’t happen in the second run. The weather is not playing friendly and it’s making this an unfair race.”
Holcomb said the team watched helplessly as a light snowfall turned into what several athletes described as a swirling snow tornado at the top of the track. The snow and wind significantly slowed the track for a number of athletes, including Holcomb.
“It’s extremely frustrating,” he said. “I’m one of the best drivers on this track. I’ve had more runs here than anybody. I had a great run, drove really good. We were just so far behind at the start because of the conditions at the start, we had no chance.”
Holcomb understands that weather is a X factor that often affects his sport. But he felt race officials had options that would have made the race more fair.
“I’d like to see them at least hold off until the weather calms down,” he said. “They do it all the time in Germany.” He said they’ll just hold the sleds until the weather calms and then let athletes run until and if the weather impacts the quality of the race.
“They didn’t do that today, and I don’t know why,” he said. “You could see a sudden change of conditions and times just got slower, slower, slower,” he said.
Despite being frustrated by a situation he felt could have been remedied, he said he and his team will regroup and try to earn a podium in Saturday’s race.
“We’ve just got to do what we can,” he said, “hope for better conditions, hopefully they make it a more fair race tomorrow.”
Holcomb went from the top American sled to the worst as he fell from fifth place to 16th with a finish time of 1:37.20. He was a full second behind the eventual winners Alexander Kasjanov and his crew from Russia. Germany’s Maximillian Arndt and his crew were second with a time of 1:36.24 and Switzerland’s Rico Peter was third with 1:36.42.
U.S. pilot Nick Cunningham was unhappy with his second run as he fell from eighth place to 12th, but he said his performance had very little to do with the adverse weather conditions.
“You want to blame Mother Nature for everything of course,” he said. “Especially when you have bad runs. In a sport like this, everything matters — draw matters, runner selection matters, where you’re sitting matters, it all kind of plays a part.”
Instead, he said the team’s issue was something he can control.
“My driving,” he said laughing. “I didn’t have two perfect runs. I made a number of mistakes, and it cost me.”
He said that like Holcomb he felt his team had good enough push times to move into podium contention after the first run.
“I wish I could have gotten my guys up there on the podium,” he said. “I’m happy there is tomorrow. We just need to regroup and forget about today. … If we keep dwelling on this tomorrow, we’re already failing.”
Canadian pilot Kaillie Humphries and push athlete Melissa Lotholz won the women’s bobsled race earlier in the day Friday with a time of 1:40.38. Austria’s Christina Hengster and Sanne Monique Dekker were second (1:40.54) and U.S. pilot Jamie Greubel Poser and Lauren Gibbs earned bronze with a time of 1:40.85.
Greubel Poser’s preseason goal was to be on the podium every competition. She achieved that with Friday’s bronze as she has two golds and three bronze medals through five of the season’s eight World Cups.
The only problem with Friday’s finish is that her success has made her hungrier for more.
It was always a goal to be on the podium every week,” Greubel Poser said. “Now my expectations are a little higher for myself. I’m really proud of us and happy to be in the medals. We just want more. It’s the nature of being a competitive athlete.”
Humphries competed in Friday night’s four-man competition but was in 21st place after the first run and only the top 20 sleds get a second run.
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