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Lund takes silver at first skeleton World Cup
By Tom LaDue // U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation // November 10, 2005
Calgary, Canada – The 2005-2006 FIBT AIT Men’s Skeleton World Cup Season officially got underway with the first of seven FIBT World Cup events before culminating in February at the XX Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy. The race saw Gregor Staehli of Switzerland take the gold by a slim margin over the 2002 & 2004 America’s Cup Champion Zach Lund (Salt Lake City, UT) who settled for the silver in a race that saw three American sleds finish in the top seven.
On the men’s side, Gregor Staehli held on to claim the gold after runs of 56.06 (fastest of the day) and 57.29 for a combined time of 1:53.35. Taking the silver, .04 seconds behind Staehli was American Zach Lund. Lund finished with a combined time of 1:53.39 after runs of 56.13 and 57.26. The second place finish was also the best finish ever for Lund whose best result coming into Calgary was a bronze medal from Lake Placid last season. Taking the bronze was the reigning World Cup and World Champion from Canada Jeff Pain after runs of 56.45 and 57.29 for a combined time of 1:53.74.
“I’m very excited about my finish. I worked really hard for the last four years since 2002 knowing what I needed to do to put myself in this type of situation to do well in an Olympic year,” replied Lund after the race. “I am very excited to be heading to Lake Placid in the position that I am in and looking forward to some great racing.”
Rounding out the top six were: 2004 World Champion Duff Gibson from Canada in fourth, with a time of 1:54.11 (56.59, 57.52); Kevin Ellis (Dallas, TX) in fifth, with a time of 1:54.14 (56.60, 57.74) and Kristan Bromley from Great Britain in sixth, with a time of 1:54.17 (56.67, 57.50).
When asked about being back on the World Cup circuit Kevin Ellis replied, “I just wanted to come out and prove myself after kind of being forgotten about last year with the team doing so well. To come out this season and finish top five in the first race I could not be more pleased.”
Also competing for the United States was: three-time Verizon National Champion Eric Bernotas (Avondale, PA) in seventh, 1:54.25 (56.69, 57.56) and 2003 Junior World Silver Medalist Caleb Smith (Lake Placid, NY) in fifteenth, 1:54.84 (57.21, 57.63).
When asked about the results United States Skeleton Head Coach Tim Nardiello replied, “The depth in our men’s program is amazing. On any given race anyone of our guys can go out and win a medal just like Zach did today. We are excited to be going back to our home track where we could sweep all the medals like we did in 2002.”
The FIBT AIT Skeleton World Cup Tour now travels to Lake Placid, New York for races on November 17th (women) and November 18th (men).
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