CALGARY, Alberta (AP) Steven Holcomb piloted USA-1 to a win in the opening World Cup four-man bobsled race of the season on Saturday, a perfect start to the Olympic season for the driver who guided the Americans to a gold medal at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
The team of Holcomb, Curt Tomasevicz, Steve Langton and Chris Fogt finished two runs on the Calgary track in 1 minute, 48.56 seconds. There was a two-way tie for second between Germany, piloted by Maximilian Arndt, and Russia, piloted by Alexander Zubkov. Both those sleds were 0.09 seconds off the pace set by USA-1.
"It's been a fantastic weekend," Holcomb said. "It's Olympic year, and this is when it counts. Walking away from the season opener with two gold medals feels really good."
It was Holcomb's first win in a four-man race since November 2010 in Whistler, the track where he won gold at the Vancouver Games nine months earlier.
USA-1 set the pace in the first heat with a start time of 5.04 seconds and a run of 54.08 seconds. The start so critical in bobsled was 5.01 seconds in the second heat, and that gave Holcomb more than enough momentum to finish off the win.