PARK CITY, Utah — Canada’s Lyndon Rush picked up a bronze medal in the men’s four-man bobsled World Cup event on Saturday night.
Rush, of Sylvan Lake, along with Edmonton’s Neville Wright, Chris LeBihan of Calgary and Ottawa’s Cody Sorenson, finished in a time of one minute 34.72 seconds.
The Canadians were 10 seconds behind Russia’s Alexsandr Zubkov (1:34.62), who won his second gold in two days and edged Germany’s Manuel Machata by three seconds.
“It’s nice,” said Canada’s pilot Lyndon Rush. “We haven’t had a very good year so far — with two sixths — so it’s a good jump up.”
Winning the two- and four-man competitions was a first for Zubkov, who is back racing after a brief retirement following a crash at the Vancouver Olympics. However, the bigger surprise was local favourite Steve Holcomb finishing sixth.
Holcomb’s Night Train sled won Olympic Gold at Vancouver earlier this year. But while the other sleds all turned in faster times on the second run, Holcomb’s sled was slower in the push and overall.
He initially declined to talk with reporters, saying he had to go see the doctors but later issued a statement.
“All kinds of factors go into it,” Holcomb’s brakeman Curtis Tomasevicz said. “We’ve got some work to do for next week (in Lake Placid).”
Rush was surprised at Holcomb’s finish.
“Holcomb on his home track?” Rush said of the defending World Cup champ. “I think he might be injured. He just didn’t push the same as normal and yesterday, too.
“I haven’t beat them very many times in my life.”