From Sochi, Russia
Home-ice again prevailed in a sliding sport, with Alexander Zubkov leading all four heats of two-man bobsled to win gold. The Russian set the track record en route to a first place finish over the Swiss team led by Beat Hefti. Hefti was quick and clean, placing second in every heat but the first, but couldn’t find the pace to keep up with the Russian. Bronze went to the United States and Steven Holcomb. Teamed with Steve Langton, the Americans scored their first medal in two-man bobsled since 1952. Alexander Kasjanov finished fourth, while Oskars Melbardis of Latvia took fifth.
Cory Butner couldn’t move up after a rough second run but a decent third run, finishing 12th for the USA. His teammate, Nick Cunningham, finished one place behind in 13th. Cunningham will race in four-man, while Butner is done for the Olympics.
The Canadians as a whole had a very solid day. Justin Kripps came into his final run fourth, but slipped back to sixth after a rough last run. Teammate Chris Spring finished seventh, while Lyndon Rush took ninth to put all three Canadian sleds in the top 10.
Germany’s FIBT Olympic struggles continued. After failing to medal in skeleton, the Germans could only manage eighth place out of Franceso Friedrich’s sled, while Thomas Florschütz finished 11th and Maximilian Arndt 15th. They’ll look for an improved result in women’s bobsled tomorrow.
Lamin Deen finished 23rd for Great Britain, while Heath Spence finished 26th for Australia.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Draw | Run 1 | Run 2 | Run 3 | Run 4 | Total |
| 1 | Zubkov/Voevoda | RUS-1 | 3 | 56.25 | 56.57 | 56.08 | 56.49 | 3:45.39 |
| 2 | Hefti/Baumann | SUI-1 | 2 | 56.46 | 56.68 | 56.26 | 56.65 | 3:46.05 |
| 3 | Holcomb/Langton | USA-1 | 1 | 56.34 | 56.84 | 56.41 | 56.68 | 3:46.27 |
| 4 | Kasjanov/Belugin | RUS-2 | 13 | 56.69 | 56.60 | 56.44 | 56.57 | 3:46.30 |
| 5 | Melbardis/Dreiskens | LAT-1 | 12 | 56.62 | 56.68 | 56.43 | 56.75 | 3:46.48 |
| 6 | Kripps/Barnett | CAN-3 | 10 | 56.56 | 56.70 | 56.42 | 56.94 | 3:46.62 |
| 7 | Spring/Lumsden | CAN-2 | 9 | 56.66 | 56.77 | 56.62 | 56.74 | 3:46.79 |
| 8 | Friedrich/Baecker | GER-1 | 4 | 56.50 | 56.88 | 56.63 | 56.84 | 3:46.85 |
| 9 | Rush/Brown | CAN-1 | 7 | 56.61 | 56.87 | 56.64 | 56.76 | 3:46.88 |
| 10 | Peter/Egger | SUI-2 | 14 | 56.96 | 56.68 | 56.60 | 56.72 | 3:46.96 |
| 11 | Florschütz/Kuske | GER-2 | 8 | 56.63 | 56.89 | 56.77 | 56.71 | 3:47.00 |
| 12 | Butner/Fogt | USA-2 | 5 | 56.43 | 57.11 | 56.77 | 56.86 | 3:47.17 |
| 13 | Cunningham/Robinson | USA-3 | 6 | 56.73 | 57.07 | 56.98 | 56.91 | 3:47.69 |
| 14 | Bertazzo/Fontana | ITA-1 | 16 | 57.06 | 57.02 | 56.90 | 56.84 | 3:47.82 |
| 15 | Arndt/Rödiger | GER-3 | 11 | 56.98 | 56.92 | 57.22 | 57.08 | 3:48.20 |
| 16 | Kibermanis/Leiboms | LAT-2 | 15 | 57.11 | 57.22 | 57.00 | 57.19 | 3:48.52 |
| 17 | Istrate/Craicun | ROU-1 | 22 | 57.39 | 57.19 | 57.24 | 57.16 | 3:48.98 |
| 18 | Won/Seo | KOR-1 | 17 | 57.41 | 57.20 | 57.58 | 57.08 | 3:49.27 |
| 19 | Van Calker/van der Zijde | NED-1 | 23 | 57.54 | 57.46 | 57.38 | 56.95 | 3:49.33 |
| 20 | Costerg/Heinrich | FRA-1 | 18 | 57.44 | 57.04 | 57.65 | 57.23 | 3:49.36 |
| 21 | Servelle/Gattuso | MON-1 | 21 | 57.50 | 57.30 | 57.80 | 2:52.60 | |
| 22 | Maier/Sammer | AUT-1 | 19 | 57.57 | 57.74 | 57.41 | 2:52.72 | |
| 23 | Deen/Baines | GBR-1 | 25 | 57.54 | 57.81 | 57.38 | 2:52.73 | |
| 24 | Vrba/Vacek | CZE-1 | 30 | 57.72 | 57.75 | 57.71 | 2:53.18 | |
| 25 | Kim/Jun | KOR-2 | 20 | 57.78 | 57.76 | 57.73 | 2:53.27 | |
| 26 | Spence/Harvey | AUS-1 | 27 | 57.96 | 57.99 | 57.78 | 2:53.73 | |
| 27 | Kupczyk/Mroz | POL-1 | 26 | 57.90 | 58.07 | 57.98 | 2:53.95 | |
| 28 | Suzuki/Miyazaki | JPN-1 | 24 | 57.91 | 58.21 | 58.02 | 2:54.14 | |
| 29 | Watts/Dixon | JAM-1 | 28 | 58.42 | 58.81 | 58.17 | 2:55.40 | |
| 30 | Radjenovic/Bundalo | SRB-1 | 29 | 58.31 | 58.56 | DNS | DNS |
