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Last Updated: Feb 15, 2010 - 2:25 PM |
IGLS, Austria- Team USA I made history again after securing the four-man bobsled World Cup title for the first time in 17-years for the U.S., as well as the overall 2010 World Cup crown.
“It feels awesome,” said Holcomb. “We had an idea last week that we would claim the four-man title, but we still had to fight today to capture the overall title as well. I feel like we’re building up steam going into the Olympics.”
Steven Holcomb (Park City, Utah), Justin Olsen (San Antonio, Texas), Steve Mesler (Buffalo, N.Y.) and Curt Tomasevicz (Shelby, Neb.) teamed together to secure both titles after finishing eighth today in Igls, Austria’s four-man race to wrap up the 2009-2010 World Cup season.
Team Holcomb pushed start times of 5.04 and 5.03 seconds for runs of 51.46 and 51.31 seconds, respectively. USA I finished just one-tenth of a second from the medals with a combined time of one minute, 42.77 seconds for eighth place.
A virus wreaked havoc amongst nations on the World Cup circuit, and members of the U.S. team were no exception. Two of Holcomb’s push athletes were ill over the last two days.
“Today shows how mentally tough these guys are,” said Holcomb. “If you had the flu, would you want to go on a rollercoaster? By far, I have the toughest push crew in the world. It just shows had badly these guys want it. Imagine how badly they want that gold medal next month.”
The last time the U.S. won an Olympic gold medal in bobsled was in 1948, when Francis Tyler piloted his four-man sled to victory in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Holcomb’s crew is eager to make history one more time by claiming the coveted Olympic crown to break the 62-year gold medal drought.
“Now it’s time to get ready,” said Holcomb. “We have two weeks of tough weight training and time on our home tracks to make sure we don’t lose our feeling of sliding. Whistler is the most difficult track in the world, and there won’t be any room for mistakes. We’ll be ready.”
© Copyright 2010 by polkcountynewspaper.com
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