Lange of Germany Stays Unbeaten in FIBT World Cup

PARK CITY, Utah (December 8, 2006) -- Andre Lange and Kevin Kuske, the 2006 Olympic 2-Man Champions, continued their domination of the FIBT World Cup Friday night with an easy victory at Utah Olympic Park. It was the third straight win for Lange, who swept the season opening races last weekend in Calgary.

Lange and Kuske—both double gold medalists at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games—earned a combined time of 1:35.39 with each run’s fastest times of 47.59 and 47.80.

Steven Holcomb (Park City, Utah) and Brock Kreitzburg (Akron, Ohio) picked up a World Cup silver medal in men’s two-man bobsled competition for the second straight week. After claiming his first-career World Cup medal in Calgary, Alberta, on Dec. 1, Holcomb returned to his home track and slid a final time of 1:35.64. Kolcomb and Kreitzburg had the second-quickest runs in each heat with times of 47.78 and 47.86.

“Having my best finish ever here in front of my home crowd and my family is really cool,” Holcomb said. “I’ve been working with [sled designer] Bob Cuneo and the coaches and we’ve been kind of messing with the sleds and all of a sudden it just clicked. Things are coming around and now we’re going fast.”

“I am surprised that my two best finishes ever are in two-man,” he admitted. “I never would have guessed that.”

Canadians Pierre Lueders and Lascelles Brown earned third place honors with a time of 1:35.73 (47.86, 47.87). Ivo Rueegg and Cedric Grand were fourth in 1:35.77 (47.81, 47.96), while Matthias Hoepfner and Andreas Porth of Germany were fifth in 1:36.02 (47.96, 48.06). Rounding out the top-six sleds was the Russian team of Alexandr Zoubkov and Dmitry Trunenkov in 1:36.03 (47.99, 48.04).

World Cup action in Park City concludes on Saturday with the men’s four-man bobsled competition beginning at 4 p.m. MST.