“This whole week I was struggling pretty bad and I wasn’t doing well in training,” Lund admitted. “Last night, I just sat down and told myself that I just really needed to let go of everything that’s happened to me and try to have fun again.”

“Today I woke up and I was nervous,” he said. “And that was great because I wasn’t nervous for Calgary. To have the race-day jitters was huge because I knew that I’d be back. I came to the track and I felt like it was mine to take.”

With an initial slide of 49.13 seconds that was just one tenth of a second behind first-run leader Alexander Tretiakov of Russia, Lund slid the day’s fastest time of 49.02 on his final run to claim a victory of 0.16 seconds over Canadian Jeff Pain. Lund finished with a total time of 1:38.15, while Pain, the 2006 Olympic silver medalist, placed second in 1:38.31 (49.28, 49.03).

“I’ve been ranked first in the world and I always felt like I had an asterisk under it because I’d never won a race,” Lund said of finally earning his first-career World Cup win. “I know this won’t be the last and I’m not going to let it be the last, but it’s always hard to get over the hump and get that first one.

“It feels great to have my first win. It’s going to help me a lot mentally this whole season and with my career.”

Eric Bernotas (Avondale, Pa.) had nearly identical runs of 49.37 and 49.38, but could not keep the fifth-place spot he held after the first run. His sixth-place combined time of 1:38.75 earned him his first podium finish of the season.

Looking to break into the top six after finishing seventh in last week’s World Cup race in Calgary, Alberta, Chris Hedquist (Salt Lake City, Utah) sat in a sixth-place tie with Adam Pengilly of Great Britain after his first run of 49.48. With his second slide of 49.63, Hedquist fell to 10th and finished with a total of 1:39.11.

Caleb Smith (Lake Placid, N.Y.) placed 24th with his first slide of 50.06 and did not qualify for a second run. The Fédération International de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganning’s (FIBT) rules state that only the top-20 sliders after the first heat receive a second run.

Tretiakov exploded out of the start on his first run and set a new Utah Olympic Park track push record of 4.54 seconds that would stand until he hit the track for his second run. He then set a new push record of 4.49 seconds, breaking his old one by 0.05 seconds. He finished third overall with a time of 1:38.63 (49.03, 49.60).

Two-time Olympic bronze medalist Gregor Staehli of Switzerland was fourth in 1:38.70 (49.51, 49.19), while Pengilly was fifth in 1:38.71 (49.48, 49.23).

“It was another great day for the men,” U.S. skeleton team head coach Orvie Garrett said. “Zach had two great runs and we couldn’t ask for anything more. I pretty much knew after his second run that it would have to be a good run by Tretiakov to catch him.”

The Park City World Cup skeleton race will be televised nationally on SPEED Channel on Saturday, Dec. 16, at 1 p.m. EST. For complete results of today’s race, visit the FIBT’s Web site at www.bobsleigh.com. The next World Cup skeleton race is Dec. 15 in Lake Placid, N.Y.

World Cup action in Park City continues on Friday with the women’s bobsled competition at 2 p.m. MST, followed by men’s two-man bobsled at 6 p.m. Men’s four-man bobsled racing on Saturday at 4 p.m. closes the second stop on the World Cup tour. All listed race times are Mountain Standard Time.

RESULTS:
1. Lund (USA), 1:38.15 (49.13, 49.02); 2. Pain (Canada), 1:38.31 (49.28, 49.03); 3. Tretiakov (Russia), 1:38.63 (49.03, 49.60); 4. Staehli (Switzerland), 1:38.70 (49.51, 49.19); 5. Pengilly (Great Britain), 1:38.71 (49.48, 49.23); 6. Bernotas (USA), 1:38.75 (49.37, 49.38); … 10. Hedquist (USA), 1:39.11 (49.48, 49.63); … 24. Smith (USA), 50.06.