From Whistler, CAN
(November 7, 2021) – Taylor Austin set the fastest time in both heats on his way to a gold medal in the first two-man bobsled race of the North American Cup 2021/2022 season.
The Canadian pilot carried a .26 second advantage over the United States’ Frank Del Duca into the second heat. On that second run Del Duca edged out China’s Chunjian Li by .03 to take the lead with only Austin. Austin once again was the quickest of the heat by a quarter of a second, giving him a .51 victory.
The gold was Austin’s seventh straight medal in two-man action, six of which have been gold.
Del Duca edged out Li for silver, his 13th straight top five finish in two-man NAC action. Li’s bronze was his first North American Cup medal since 2018 in Lake Placid.
Geoffrey Gadbois finished just out of the medals in fourth place, well ahead of Korea’s Youngjin Suk in fifth. Axel Brown finished sixth for Trinidad and Tobago, making the move to the TTO from Great Britain.
Tyler Hickey helped put all three USA sleds in the top eight with an eighth place finish, while Canada’s Pat Norton finished one spot ahead in seventh.
Brendon Thera-Plamondon rounded out the Canadian effort in 14th.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Finish |
| 1 | Austin / Sunderland | CAN | 5 | 4.97 | 5.04 | 52.53 | 52.89 | 1:45.42 |
| 2 | Del Duca / Lynch | USA | 10 | 4.96 | 5.03 | 52.79 | 53.14 | 1:45.93 |
| 3 | Li / Wu | CHN | 8 | 4.93 | 4.95 | 52.94 | 53.02 | 1:45.96 |
| 4 | Gadbois / Mitchell | USA | 7 | 4.98 | 5.05 | 52.84 | 53.29 | 1:46.13 |
| 5 | Suk / Kim | KOR | 9 | 5.00 | 5.03 | 53.31 | 53.46 | 1:46.77 |
| 6 | Brown / Harris | TTO | 4 | 5.06 | 5.24 | 53.21 | 53.61 | 1:46.82 |
| 7 | Norton / Johnson | CAN | 12 | 5.02 | 5.07 | 53.38 | 53.65 | 1:47.03 |
| 8 | Hickey / Christofferson | USA | 16 | 5.07 | 5.05 | 53.71 | 53.52 | 1:47.23 |
| 9 | Bindilatti / Jeronimo | BRA | 13 | 5.01 | 5.13 | 53.65 | 53.94 | 1:47.59 |
| 10 | Edelman / Chen | ISR | 10 | 5.21 | 5.17 | 53.80 | 53.96 | 1:47.76 |
| 11 | Stephens / Turgott | JAM | 11 | 5.03 | 5.02 | 53.81 | 54.07 | 1:47.88 |
| 12 | Ohanlon / Williamson | AUS | 2 | 5.21 | 5.15 | 54.59 | 56.31 | 1:50.90 |
| DNF | Thera-Plamondon / Mlakar | CAN | 14 | 4.98 | 4.99 | 53.76 | DNF | |
| DNF | Bagge / Darville | DEN | 15 | 5.16 | 5.17 | 55.68 | DNF | |
| DSQ | Edwards / Mitchell | CAN | 3 | 5.09 | 56.20 | DSQ | ||
| DSQ | Silic / Nikpalj | CRO | 6 | DSQ |
