Hays gets silver to open 2-man World Cup season

Must be an Olympic year, because Todd Hays is flying down bobsled tracks again.

The 40-year-old Hays teamed with Steven Langton to win a silver medal in the opening two-man World Cup bobsled race of the season on a frigid Friday night on the 2002 Olympic track. Hays' time over two runs was 1 minute, 37.19 seconds, only 0.11 seconds back of the Swiss team of Beat Hefti and Alex Baumann.

It was Hays' first top-three finish in a World Cup race since driving to four-man gold at St. Moritz in January 2006.

"Feels just like I remember," said Hays, the 2002 silver four-man medalist from Texas who emerged from a brief retirement to try for the Vancouver Games, which would be his fourth berth on an Olympic team. "It feels great. Been a while coming. Steve Langton pushing me, my sled was really rolling today."

It capped a stellar night for American sliders. Steve Holcomb and Curt Tomasevicz were fourth in the men's race, just behind bronze medalists Ivo Rueegg and Cedric Grand of Switzerland, while the U.S. put three women in the top nine spots of the women's event.

"We're all right on track for where we want to be," Holcomb said.

Indeed, it was a night where the entire U.S. bobsled program showed it'll contend this Olympic season.

Erin Pac teamed with Michelle Rzepka to finish third in the women's bobsled World Cup opener, their two-run time of 1 minute, 40.32 seconds topped by two sleds from the powerful German program. Cathleen Martin and Romy Logsch took gold in 1:39.92, followed by reigning Olympic gold medalist Sandra Kiriasis and Berit Wiacker, who were second in 1:40.12.

Bree Schaaf and brakeman Ingrid Marcum were fourth in 1:40.43.

"It's awesome," Schaaf said. "You plan on doing well, and it's still always a great surprise. As much as you plan, plan, plan, when it follows through and comes together, it feels so good."

Pac matched her best World Cup finish. She won bronze last season in Whistler, the site of this year's sliding competition at the Vancouver Games.

"We wanted to come in here and make a name for ourselves this year," Pac said. "I think this gives us a lot of confidence as a team."

Shauna Rohbock probably didn't come away with that same confidence.

She teamed with Valerie Fleming to win the Olympic silver medal at Turin in 2006, and they were together again Friday - for exactly one run. Fleming injured her hamstring just minutes before their second run, and Emily Azevedo was quickly summoned to fill in on less than 10 minutes notice.

When Rohbock crossed the line after that second run, she tossed her helmet 15 yards up the icy track in frustration. A ninth-place start to the season wasn't exactly what she had in mind.

"I think my motto will be, 'It's not how you start, it's how you finish,'" Rohbock said.

It was Rohbock's first competitive race of the season. She was exempt from team trials, and U.S. coach Brian Shimer suggested that could have been a factor for the slow start to her year.

"The other girls were more in race mode, I think," Shimer said.

Fleming said she wasn't sure of the preliminary diagnosis; trainers on site suggested it could be anywhere from a cramp to a pull, and further examination is likely.

If nothing else, her status for next weekend's race at Lake Placid is shaky at best.

"If I did worse, then pretty much the Olympic dream is over," Fleming said. "So I felt like I might as well take it easy, and I didn't want to hurt anything in terms of how Shauna was doing. Emily stepped in and did an awesome job."

Fleming left with a limp. Marcum left with a heavy heart.

She decided to race Friday, despite learning 24 hours earlier that a close friend died unexpectedly, leaving behind a husband and three children. Marcum wrote the friend's name on her wrist.

"I just wanted to do what I could," Marcum said. "It's hard not to be there for her family right now. I can't be there, but I raced in her honor, had her on my wrist and took her with me."

Competition in Park City resumes Saturday with the four-man race, an event where Holcomb is the reigning world champion.