CESANA PARIOL, Italy — Lyndon Rush of Sylvan Lake drove Canada to a bronze medal in a World Cup four-man bobsleigh event Sunday.
Steve Holcomb led the United States I to gold with a two-run combined time of one minute, 51.22 seconds on the track used for the 2006 Turin Olympics.
Switzerland I was second, 0.41 seconds behind.
The 29-year-old Rush and his Calgary-based crew of Chris Le Bihan, Dan Humphries and Lascelles Brown finished in 1:51.67.
“We are just so ecstatic right now as a team,” said Rush. “The whole package is coming together for us right now. We have a good attitude, we trust our equipment, the push is good and we have a good belief that we can do it.”
The other Canadian sled, driven by star driver Pierre Lueders of Edmonton, finished 10th. Lueders, with Neville Wright and CFL star Jesse Lumsden, both of Edmonton, along with Justin Kripps of Summerland, B.C., were sixth after the opening run, but finished 10th (1:52.05) after a poor second heat.
Rush had had a tough week on the 19-corner 2006 Olympic track, placing 13th in Saturday’s two-man race.
“I am completely surprised with this result and never expected a medal that’s for sure,” said Rush. “I had a really bad week of training and was really upset at the two-man result, but we were able to pull things together today and I’m thrilled.”
It was the second medal of his career, second of the season, and first on a European track. Rush won the season-opening four-man race in Park City, Utah.
“For as long as I’ve known Lyndon, he has always been a little bit stronger in the four-man,” said Tuffy Latour, head coach of the Canadian team. “I think Lyndon maybe was driving a little too much this week in the two-man and kept telling himself that down the track. This is a great result for him, and I’m expecting to see better results from him in both the two- and four-man once we get to Altenberg as that is a track he likes.”
The Canadians now head to Winterberg, Germany, for next week’s World Cup races.
Holcomb holds a 25-point lead over Rush in the World Cup standings.