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Rohbock, Fleming victorious in bobsled
By Karen Saladya // U.S. Bobsled // December 9, 2006
PARK CITY, Utah—At today’s women’s bobsled competition in Park City, Utah, Shauna Rohbock (Orem, Utah) and Valerie Fleming (Foster City, Calif.) won their second consecutive World Cup race by setting a track record and twice tying the push record. With the victory, the 2006 Olympic silver medalists remain undefeated this season.
On their second run of 48.73 seconds, Rohbock and Fleming broke the Utah Olympic Park track record of 48.81 set by Americans Jill Bakken and Vonetta Flowers in the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. That record-setting run also saw them tie the push record of 5.25 seconds established by Canadians Helen Upperton and Jennifer Ciochetti in the first heat.
The U.S. pair first tied the push record on their initial run of 48.85, earning a lead of 0.32 seconds over Cathleen Martini and Janine Tischer of Germany heading into the second run. With a final time of 1:37.58, Rohbock and Fleming defeated the German pair by 0.43 seconds.
In a time of 1:38.01 (49.17, 48.84), Martini and Tischer claimed silver for the second race in a row, while Upperton and Ciochetti were third in 1:38.22 (49.18, 49.04). Placing fourth was the German duo of pilot Sandra Kiriasis and brakeman Anja Schneiderheinze with a time of 1:38.38. Rounding out the top-six sleds were Russians Victoria Tokovaia and Olga Fedorova in fifth and the Swiss team of Sabina Hafner and Katharina Sutter in sixth with times of 1:38.64 (49.48, 49.16) and 1:39.07 (49.72, 49.35), respectively.
American pilot Sara Sprung (Frisco, Colo.) drove to a career-best seventh-place finish in a time of 1:39.25. Sprung and brakeman Ingrid Marcum (Elmhurst, Ill.) were eighth after their first run of 49.88 and improved their second slide by more than half a second with a down time of 49.37.
The Park City World Cup women’s bobsled race will be televised nationally on SPEED Channel on Sunday, Dec. 17, 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 women’s bobsled race is Dec. 16 in Lake Placid, N.Y.
World Cup action in Park City continues later today with the men’s two-man bobsled competition at 6 p.m. MST. 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. Rohbock and Fleming (USA), 1:37.58 (48.85, 48.73); 2. Martini and Tischer (Germany), 1:38.01 (49.17, 48.84); 3. Upperton and Ciochetti (Canada), 1:38.22 (49.18, 49.04); 4. Kiriasis and Schneiderheinze (Germany), 1:38.38 (49.38, 49.00); 5. Tokovaia and Fedorova (Russia), 1:38.64 (49.48, 49.16); 6. Hafner and Sutter (Switzerland), 1:39.07 (49.72, 49.35); 7. Sprung and Marcum (USA), 1:39.25 (49.88, 49.37).
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