Italy's Huber takes lead in two-man bobsleigh

February 14, 1998

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Italy's Huber takes lead in two-man bobsleigh

(Spiral, Nagano City)
15:00- Start

Italy's Guenther Huber grabbed a narrow 0.04-second lead over four-time World Cup champion Pierre Lueders of Canada on the first two runs of the two-man bobsleigh competition at the Nagano Olympic Winter Games on Saturday.

Huber and brakeman Antonio Tartaglia turned in a composite time of 1 minute, 48.80 seconds on the Spiral bobsleigh track in the Iizuna Kogen highlands in northern Nagano for the first-day lead.

Lueders and David MacEachern, who posted the fastest time of the day down the 1,360-meter course with two uphill sections, are in second heading into the final round of races with a 1:48.84.

Lueders and MacEachern racked up the day's best run of 54.28 seconds during the final round.

''I had only some slight mistakes, but nothing big. We'll wait and see tomorrow,'' said Huber, a bronze medalist in the Lillehammer Olympics four years ago.

While only 0.04 second separating the top two sleds, Christian Reich and Cedric Grand in Switzerland's second entry are a fat 0.49 second back in third place. (Kyodo News)

Results of two-man bobsleigh after the first two runs Saturday in the 18th Olympic Winter Games at Spiral, Nagano (course 1,360 meters, vertical drop 113 meters):

1. Guenther Huber and Antonio Tartaglia, Italy

1 minute, 48.80 seconds (first run 54.51, second run 54.29)

2. Pierre Lueders and David MacEachern, Canada

1:48.84 (54.56, 54.28)

3. Christian Reich and Cedric Grand, Switzerland

1:49.29 (54.73, 54.56)

4. Sandis Prusis and Janis Elsins, Latvia

1:49.43 (54.91, 54.52)

5. Christoph Langen and Markus Zimmermann, Germany

1:49.44 (54.82, 54.62)

6. Bruno Mingeon and Emmanuel Hostache, France

1:49.45 (54.80, 54.65)

7. Reto Goetschi and Guido Acklin, Switzerland

1:49.48 (54.71, 54.77)

7. Chris Lori and Jack Pyc, Canada

1:49.48 (54.76, 54.72)

9. Dirk Wiese and Marco Jakobs, Germany

1:49.49 (54.83, 54.66)

10. Pavel Puskar and Jan Kobian, Czech Republic

1:49.59 (54.99, 54.60)

11. James Herberich and Robert Olesen, U.S.

1:49.61 (54.91, 54.70)

12. Brian Shimer and Garreth Hines, U.S.

1:49.67 (54.88, 54.79)

13. Fabrizio Tosini and Enrico Costa, Italy

1:49.86 (55.07, 54.79)

14. Eric Alard and Eric Le Chanony, France

1:50.00 (55.25, 54.75)

15. Sean Olsson and Lenox Paul, Britain

1:50.36 (55.24, 55.12)

16. Jiri Dzmura and Pavel Polomsky, Czech Republic

1:50.41 (55.30, 55.11)

17. Pavel Chtcheglovski and Konstantin Demine, Russia

1:50.50 (55.41, 55.09)

18. Naomi Takewaki and Hiroaki Oishi, Japan

1:50.55 (55.31, 55.24)

19. Hiroshi Suzuki and Masanori Inoue, Japan

1:50.57 (55.47, 55.10)

20. Rodzers Lodzins and Maris Rozentals, Latvia

1:50.59 (55.34, 55.25)

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33. Sun Kuang-ming and Cheng Jin-shan, Taiwan

1:53.70 (56.84, 56.86)

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