Popov Easily Wins World Cup 4-Man Race in Lake Placid

LAKE PLACID, USA (December 17, 2006) -- Evenij Popov of Russia tamed the challenging Lake Placid bob track Sunday and won his second straight FIBT World Cup 4-Man race.

The Lake Placid track proved difficult for even the best pilots. Both the Olympic Gold and Silver medalists crashed. Germany's Andre Lange, the 2006Olympic Champion,

Evenij Popov, right, and his four-man team of FRoman orechnikov, Dmitry Trunenkov and Dmitry Stepushkin after winning the Lake Placid 4-Maqn World Cup Sunday, Dec.17.(Photo by Charlie Booker)

crashed in training on Thursday and chose not to compete. Alexandr Zoubkov of Russia, the Olympic silver medalist, crashed in the first heat of the 4-man competition and did not take a second run. Janis Minins of Latvia also crashed in training, but he did not withdraw and was able to eventually win a silver medal.

Popov, who leads the FIBT 4-Man World Cup standings with 290 points, had the fastest runs in both heats, 55.36 and 56.15 for a 1:51.51 total time. Minins put together runs of 55.77 and 56.22 and was .48 seconds back. The bronze went to Fabrizio Tosini of Italy with runs of 55.88 and 56.22 for a 1:52.10. It was the first ever medal for Tosini.

Completing the top five were Matthias Hoepfner of Germany, 1:52.21, and Pierre Lueders of Canada, 1:52.21.

The FIBT World Bobsleigh Tour resumes January 12-14 in Cortina d'Ampezzo,Italy.