In the first women’s bobsled race on Wednesday, Nov. 15, rookie pilot Erin Pac (Farmington, Conn.) won a bronze medal with Julie Childress (Advance, N.C.) as her brakeman. The duo placed third in a time of 1:57.72 (58.71, 59.01) behind two veteran drivers who both finished in the World Cup top-10 rankings last season. In her first international race as a driver, Pac beat 2006 Olympian Suzanne Gavine-Hlady on the Canadian pilot’s home track.

Jamia Jackson (Flagstaff, Ariz.) and Janeshia Adams-Ginyard (Bellflower, Calif.) finished sixth with a total of 1:59.07 after runs of 59.40 and 59.67. With a time of 1:56.37, Russians Victoria Tokovaia and Olga Fodorova won gold, while Great Britain’s Nicola Minichiello and Lauren Therin claimed silver.

On the second day of women’s bobsled competition on Thursday, Nov. 16, Pac and Childress finished fifth in a time of 1:57.99 (58.78, 59.21), while Jackson and Adams-Ginyard took sixth for the second consecutive day in 1:58.22 (59.09, 59.13). Minichiello and brakeman Joanne John won the day’s competition with a time of 1:56.66, while Tokovaia and Nadezda Orlova were second.

In men’s two-man competition on Nov. 15, the duo of Steve Mesler (Buffalo, N.Y.) and Ethan Albrecht-Carrie (Wheatfield, N.Y.) won bronze in a time of 1:54.34 (57.07, 57.27), while just one hundredth of a second behind them were Grayson Fertig (Oxford, Conn.) and Brian Spickler (Indiana, Pa.) in fourth in 1:54.35 (57.15, 57.20).  The American sled of Mat Anderson (Santa Rosa, Calif.) and Jay Noller (El Paso, Texas) placed sixth after runs of 57.34 and 57.92 for a combined time of 1:55.26.

With Brock Kreitzburg (Akron, Ohio) on brake, NASCAR driver and Hollywood stuntman Stanton Barrett (Bishop, Calif.) beat seven other sleds to finish ninth in his first-ever bobsled race with a time of 1:56.03 (58.24, 57.79). Barrett had an impressive race by being the second heat’s sixth-fastest sled and claiming the eighth-fastest start times in each run.

Mesler, a 2006 Olympian who returned to the driver’s seat after serving as a push athlete for the last three seasons, used his pushing strength with Albrecht-Carrie to claim the second-quickest starts in both heats. World Cup drivers and Russian teammates Evgeni Popov and Alexandr Zoubkov won gold and silver, respectively.

On day two of men’s two-man bobsled races on Nov. 16, Fertig and Spickler placed third and Mesler and Albrecht-Carrie finished fourth. Fertig drove to a time of 1:53.65 (56.58, 57.07) that was 0.88 seconds behind Zoubkov‘s winning total of 1:52.77. Mesler earned a time of 1:54.32 (56.96, 57.36), while the American pair of Anderson and Noller was seventh in 1:54.97 (57.62, 57.35).

Barrett and Kreitzburg earned an 11th-place finish after runs of 57.80 and 57.71 for a combined time of 1:55.51.

In men’s four-man bobsled competition on Nov. 18-19, Fertig and his team of Albrecht-Carrie, Will Person (St. Louis, Mo.) and Spickler won a bronze medal on Saturday with a time of 1:51.17 (55.51, 55.66) and missed a medal by placing fourth on Sunday in 1:51.75 (55.98, 55.77). Popov won the first day in a time of 1:48.86 (54.32, 54.54), while Russian teammate Zoubkov claimed victory on the second day in 1:50.32 (55.14, 55.18).

The first skeleton competition on Nov. 16 saw American sliders win gold in both the women’s and men’s races. Jessica Palmer (Roy, Utah) placed first in a field of 28 women’s competitors with a time of 2:00.52 (1:00.16, 1:00.36), while Caleb Smith’s (Lake Placid, N.Y.) time of 1:55.46 (57.59, 57.87) was 1.18 seconds faster than the men’s second-place finisher Hiroyuki Banba of Japan. Palmer beat Russian Ekaterina Mironova, the silver medalist at the 2003 World Championships, by four tenths of a second.

For the women, Rebecca Sorensen (Fort Collins, Colo.) earned a bronze medal by finishing with a time of 2:01.30 (1:00.95, 1:00.35). She edged Palmer by .01 seconds to claim the second heat’s fastest time. In fourth was Annie O’Shea (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.) in 2:01.48 (1:00.66, 1:00.82), while Linda Cise (Indianapolis, Ind.) was 12th with a time of 2:04.38 (1:02.45, 1:01.93).

On the men’s side, Chris Hedquist (Salt Lake City, Utah) just missed the podium in fourth place after runs of 58.19 and 58.68 for a time of 1:56.87. Earning top-15 finishes were Kyle Tress (Trenton, N.J.) in 11th with a time of 1:58.21 (59.42, 58.79) and Matt Antoine (Prairie du Chien, Wis.) in 12th with a total of 1:58.63 (58.84, 59.79).

Rounding out the American men were Chris Burgess (Glen Gardner, N.J.) in 16th with a time of 1:59.00 (59.76, 59.24) and John Daly (Smithtown, N.Y.) in 18th after runs of 59.88 and 59.34 for a total of 1:59.22.

On the second day of racing on Friday, Nov. 17, Palmer and O’Shea claimed silver and bronze medals, respectively, for the women and Hedquist won gold for the men.

Palmer’s time of 2:01.15 (1:00.51, 1:00.64) placed her second behind Mironova’s 2:00.23 (59.68, 1:00.55). O’Shea slid to a time of 2:01.36 (1:00.12, 1:01.24), Sorensen finished seventh in 2:02.34 (1:01.19, 1:01.15) and Cise did not finish her first run.

Hedquist was in second after the first heat, just .01 seconds behind Great Britain’s Ant Sawyer. On his second run, he improved his time by two tenths of a second and beat Sawyer with a combined time of 1:56.62 (58.41, 58.21).

Daly jumped nine positions from his day-one finish to claim ninth in a time of 1:58.07 after runs of 58.87 and 59.20, while Antoine was just. .05 seconds behind him in 10th with a time of 1:58.12 (58.92, 59.20). In 14th was Tress in 1:58.99 (59.39, 59.60) and Burgess only took one run of 1:02.31 to place 27th. Smith did not slide on the second racing day.

The next America’s Cup race is in Lake Placid, N.Y., beginning Nov. 28-29 with the men’s two-man bobsled race. Men’s four-man bobsled, women’s bobsled, and men’s and women’s skeleton will race on Dec. 2-3. Media interested in attending the Lake Placid America’s Cup can contact the Olympic Regional Development Authority’s Sandy Caligiore at (518) 523-1655 or sandyc@orda.org. For complete race results, visit www.bobsleigh.com, the Web site of the Fédération International de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganning (FIBT).

RESULTS:

Women's Bobsled (Nov. 15)

1. Tokovaia and Fodorova (Russia), 1:56.37 (58.02, 58.35); 2. Minichiello and Therin (Great Britain), 1:56.93; 3. Pac and Childress (USA), 1:57.72 (58.71, 59.01); … 6. Jackson and Adams-Ginyard (USA), 1:59.07 (59.40, 59.67).

Women's Bobsled (Nov. 16)

1. Minichiello and John (Great Britain), 1:56.66 (58.34, 58.32); 2. Tokovaia and Orlova (Russia), 1:56.94; 3. Jacqueline Davies and Heather Fisher (Great Britain), 1:57.42; … 5. Pac and Childress (USA), 1:57.99 (58.78, 59.21); 6. Jackson and Adams-Ginyard (USA), 1:58.22 (59.09, 59.13).

Men's Two-Man Bobsled (Nov. 15)

1. Popov and Dmitry Stepuskin (Russia), 1:53.30 (56.30, 57.00); 2. Zoubkov and Evgeni Pechonkin (Russia), 1:53.37; 3. Mesler and Albrecht-Carrie (USA), 1:54.34 (57.07, 57.27); 4. Fertig and Spickler (USA), 1:54.35 (57.15, 57.20); … 6. Anderson and Noller (USA), 1:55.26 (57.34, 57.92); … 9. Barrett and Kreitzburg (USA), 1:56.03 (58.24, 57.79).

Men’s Two-Man Bobsled (Nov. 16)

1. Zoubkov and Pechonkin (Russia), 1:52.77 (56.23, 56.54); 2. Popov and Stepuskin (Russia), 1:53.05; 3. Fertig and Spickler (USA), 1:53.65 (56.58, 57.07); 4. Mesler and Albrecht-Carrie (USA), 1:54.32 (56.96, 57.36); … 7. Anderson and Noller (USA), 1:54.97 (57.62, 57.35); … 11. Barrett and Kreitzburg (USA), 1:55.51 (57.80, 57.71).

Men’s Four-Man Bobsled (Nov. 18)

1. Popov, Roman Oreshnikov, Dmitri Trunenkov, Stepuskin (Russia), 1:48.86 (54.32, 54.54);

2. Zoubkov, Alexandr Tsherbakov, Alexei Seliverstov, Pechonkin (Russia), 1:49.63; 3. Fertig, Albrecht-Carrie, Person, Spickler (USA), 1:51.17 (55.51, 55.66).

Men’s Four-Man Bobsled (Nov. 19)

1. Zoubkov, Tsherbakov, Seliverstov, Piotr Makartchuk (Russia), 1:50.32 (55.14, 55.18); 2. Popov, Oreshnikov, Trunenkov, Stepuskin (Russia), 1:50.62; 3. Richard Christensen, Chris Ripley, Ryan McConnell, Florian Linder (Canada), 1:51.74 (55.93, 55.81); 4. Fertig, Albrecht-Carrie, Person, Spickler (USA), 1:51.75 (55.98, 55.77).

Women’s Skeleton (Nov. 16)

1. Palmer (USA), 2:00.52 (1:00.16, 1:00.36); 2. Mironova (Russia), 2:00.92; 3. Sorensen (USA), 2:01.30 (1:00.95, 1:00.35); 4. O’Shea (USA), 2:01.48 (1:00.66, 1:00.82); … 12. Cise (USA), 2:04.38 (1:02.45, 1:01.93).

Women’s Skeleton (Nov. 17)

1. Mironova (Russia), 2:00.23 (59.68, 1:00.55); 2. Palmer (USA), 2:01.15 (1:00.51, 1:00.64); 3. O’Shea (USA), 2:01.36 (1:00.12, 1:01.24); … 7. Sorensen (USA), 2:02.34 (1:01.19, 1:01.15); … DNF. Cise (USA).

Men’s Skeleton (Nov. 16)

1. Smith (USA), 1:55.46 (57.59, 57.87); 2. Hiroyuki Banba (Japan), 1:56.64; 3. Andy Wood (Great Britain), 1:56.77; 4. Hedquist (USA), 1:56.87 (58.19, 58.68); … 11. Tress (USA), 1:58.21 (59.42, 58.79); 12. Antoine (USA), 1:58.63 (58.84, 59.79); … 16. Burgess (USA), 1:59.00 (59.76, 59.24); … 18. Daly (USA), 1:59.22 (59.88, 59.34).

Men’s Skeleton (Nov. 17)

1. Hedquist (USA), 1:56.62 (58.41, 58.21); 2. Sawyer (Great Britain), 1:56.92; 3. Wood (Great Britain), 1:57.38; … 9. Daly (USA), 1:58.07 (58.87, 59.20); 10. Antoine (USA), 1:58.12 (58.92, 59.20); … 14. Tress (USA), 1:58.99 (59.39, 59.60); … 27. Burgess (USA), 1:02.31; DNS. Caleb Smith (USA).