Canadian Rookie Chris Spring Posts Career-Best World Cup Four-Man Bobsleigh Result in Ninth
LA PLAGNE, Fra.—Chris Spring slid to his best World Cup four-man bobsleigh result with a ninth-place finish on Sunday in La Plagne, France.
The 27-year-old Calgary-based rookie teamed up with Toronto’s Tim Randall, Calgary’s Derek Plug and Graeme Rinholm, of Saskatoon, to clock a time of 1:57.63 in the crew’s first visit to the Olympic Track near Albertville, France.
“It’s a classic case of a new young lad who has has nothing to lose and it is spectacular to watch,” said Tom Delahunty, Head Coach, Canadian Bobsleigh Team, about Spring who was travelling to Winterberg and unavailable for comment. “He’s been given some of best equipment in the world with our new Eurotech sleds, has a great team around him and is learning all the time.”
Spring, who started bobsleigh in 2007 while working on a visa from Australia, has had an impressive start in his first season on the elite circuit. Spring drove the Canada 2 sled to a sixth-place finish in the two-man race Saturday, and today improved on last weekend’s 10th-place result as the top sled in the four-man.
“He is working towards his first podium and he’s getting better and better,” said Delahunty. “He has to keep getting in the top-10, and I think he will find his way onto the podium in the near future.”
Germany swept the four-man podium.
Manuel Machata, Florian Becke, Andreas Bredau and Christian Poser clocked a golden time of 1:57.00. Maximillian Arndt, Rene Tiefert, Jan Speer and Martin Putze won the silver medal in the Germany 2 sled at 1:57.24, while Thomas Florschuetz, Gino Gerhardi, Kevin Kuske and Tomas Blaschek completed the sweep in third (1:57.26).
Olympic medallist Lyndon Rush, of Humboldt, Sask., and his crew of Jesse Lumsden, of Burlington, Ont., Ottawa’s Cody Sorensen and Edmonton’s Neville Wright, have struggled in the Canada 1 sled early in the season. Team Rush finished 11th at 1:57.71.
“We still have a little ways to go, and haven’t really put a race together the way we want to yet,” said Rush. “I don’t have any excuses. I have been at this a long time now and we should be better than this.”
Bobsleigh CANADA Skeleton is a non-profit organization and the national governing body for the sports of bobsleigh and skeleton in Canada. With the support of its valued corporate partners – VISA, Dow Chemical, Adidas, KBC Helmets, Eurotech – Viking Engineering, SAIT Polytechnic, Therapeutica – along with the Government of Canada, Canadian Olympic Committee and Own the Podium, Bobsleigh CANADA Skeleton develops Olympic and world champions. Please visit us at www.bobsleighcanadaskeleton.ca.
Complete Results: www.fibt.com
Top-Five Men’s Bobsleigh Results:
1. Machata/Becke/Bredau/Poser, GER 3, 1:57.00; 2. Arndt/Tiefert/Speer/Putze, GER 2, 1:57.24; 3. Florschuetz/Gerhardi/Kuske/Blaschek, GER 1, 1:57.26; 4. Kasjanov/Ngodaylo/Belugin/Moiseev, RUS 2, 1:57.27; 5. Zubkov/Egorov/Trunenkov/Hrenkov, RUS 1, 1:57.28
Canadian Results:
9. Chris Spring, Calgary/Tim Randall, Toronto/Derek Plug, Calgary/Graeme Rinholm, Saskatoon, CAN 2, 1:57.63; 11. Lyndon Rush, Humboldt, Sask./Jesse Lumsden, Burlington, Ont./Cody Sorensen, Ottawa/Neville Wright, Edmonton, CAN 1, 1:57.71
*****