For Immediate Release:

Saturday, December 10, 2005

Contact: Tom LaDue

Public and Media Relations Director

United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation

(518) 523-1842 ext. 106

Igls, Austria – The United States Men’s Bobsled team kept its streak alive of medaling on every track this season. For the third race in a row the American team of 2002 Olympic 4-man Silver Medalist Todd Hays (Del Rio, TX) and Pavle Jovanovic (Tom’s River, NJ) claimed a medal, this time a bronze. By winning his third two-man medal of the season Todd Hays also took the overall lead in the 2-man World Cup standings for the first time this season.

The Russian team of Alexandr Zoubkov and Alexey Voevoda came from second place and .11 seconds behind to snatch the gold from the team of 2005 World Cup Combined Champion Martin Annen and Beat Hefti from Switzerland. Zoubkov and Voevoda stood in second place after a 5.09 push with a time of 52.91 on run one. Run two would see a push of 5.08 down with a time of 53.10 for a combined time of 1:46.01. Taking the silver medal, .02 seconds behind Zoubkov was the Swiss team of 2005 World Cup Combined Champion Martin Annen and Beat Hefti. Annen and Hefti had identical pushes of 5.08 to go with runs of 52.80 and 53.23 for a combined time of 1:46.03. The second run would be the difference as the driver's push bar stayed up at the start, causing Annen to drop the ropes to pull it down in curve 2. The distraction proved to be costly. The bronze medal would go to the team of 2002 Olympic 4-man Silver Medalist Todd Hays and Pavle Jovanovic. Hays and Jovanovic had a first run of 52.98 after a push of 5.10. Run two would see the fastest push of the competition a 5.07 with a down time of 53.25 for a combined time of 1:46.23. The bronze medal was the third medal of the season for Hays in the two-man competition (1 silver & 2 bronze) and also moved him into the overall lead of the world cup 2-man standings with 250 points to the 242 points of Andre Lange from Germany.

Rounding out the top six: Janis Minins and Daumants Dreiskens from Latvia, in fourth, with a time of 1:46.34 (53.13, 53.21); Matthias Hoepfner and Marc Kuehne from Germany, in fifth, with a time of 1:46.42 (53.10, 53.32) and Ivo Rueegg and Roman Handschin from Switzerland, in sixth, with a time of 1:46.49 (53.15, 53.34).

Also finishing in the top ten was the American team of Steve Holcomb (Park City, UT) and Brock Kreitzburg (Akron, OH) as they tied for eighth. Holcomb and Kreitzburg had a push of 5.14 and a down time of 53.36 and stood in twelfth after run one. Run two would see the team have a start of 5.16 with a finish time of 53.24 (fourth fastest down time of heat two) for a combined time of 1:46.60.

Also competing for the United States was the team of 2002 Olympic 4-man Bronze Medalist Mike Kohn (Chantilly, VA) and Alex Sprague (Indianapolis, IN). Kohn and Sprague had a first run push of 5.48 and a down time of 54.33 and finished in thirty-sixth. Kohn has been bothered by a hamstring injury and strained it during the first step of his first run causing his times to be so far off. Kohn did not take a second run after not finishing in the top twenty after run one. Under the FIBT rules only the top twenty sleds after run one compete in run two.

When asked about the race, Head Coach Tuffy Latour replied, “A great performance by Todd getting another medal in a two-man race. We are pretty excited about the fact he had the fastest push in the second heat and the fastest velocity going into curve one. He is back in the two-man after another solid result. Steve Holcomb another great job tying for eighth, as he had the fourth fastest time for run two. If Steve had had a faster first run he probably would have been in the top six. We are looking forward to some great result in the four-man tomorrow.”

The 2-man top ten World Cup standings: Todd Hays, United States – 250 points; Andre Lange, Germany – 242 points; Alexandr Zoubkov, Russia – 240 points; Pierre Lueders, Canada – 180 points; Martin Annen, Switzerland – 169 points; Wolfgang Stampfer, Austria – 144 points; Fabrizio Tosini, Italy – 138 points; Janis Minins, Latvia – 136 points; Ivo Rueegg, Switzerland – 135 points and Matthias Hoepfner, Germany – 131 points.

If you want to see more bobsled action watch Speed Channel tomorrow (Sunday Dec. 11th) at noon est. for the two-man bobsled race from Lake Placid, New York. The American team put together some great runs and showed the world with the results that they are a force to watch out for.

The FIBT Men’s Bobsled World Cup continues with the four-man race tomorrow.

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