USA drivers slide out of medals in 4-man World Cup

It's the hardest part of bobsledding, those 5 seconds where racers sprint alongside their sleds before jumping in for the bumpy ride down an icy chute.

Todd Hays and Steven Holcomb have handled it flawlessly countless times.

But on Saturday, in the World Cup four-man bobsled season-opener, America's two top drivers both were doomed by Rule No. 1.

"Ice is slippery," Holcomb said.

Hays couldn't make his lead after the first of two runs hold up, injuring his left hamstring at the start of the second trip down the track and finishing a disappointing sixth. Holcomb, the reigning world champion and racing in his hometown, slipped getting into his sled on the second run, smashing into a wall and settled for seventh.

Not the way the U.S. wanted to start this Olympic season, not by a long shot.

"I made a mistake," said Holcomb, who was third entering the second and final run. "My guys, they still know they're fast. The sled's still fast. It's just up to me getting in the sled. I'm the first one in. If I don't get in, those guys don't get in. So it comes down to me."

Canada's Lyndon Rush, with push athletes Chris Le Bihan, Dan Humphries and 2006 Olympic medalist Lascelles Brown, won the two-run competition in a combined 1 minute, 36.43 seconds. Latvia's Janis Minins was second, tied with Russia's Dmitry Abramovitch on the 2002 Olympic track, both of them finishing only 0.02 seconds behind the Canadian sled.

Hays' time was 1:36.58, Holcomb's team finished in 1:36.62, and upstart American John Napier - whose team included veteran bobsledder Brock Kreitzburg, who's making a comeback bid after reconstructive hip surgery kept him off the ice last season - was 8th in 1:36.74.

Each of the top five sleds all did better in their second runs than their first, clearly showing the ice somehow got faster as the night wore along. All three U.S. sleds slowed down, with Hays losing 0.14 seconds to 48.36, Holcomb losing 0.04 seconds to 48.33 and Napier dropping 0.06 seconds to 48.40.

That might not sound like much, but consider that the top seven sleds were only separated by 0.19 seconds.

"I'm really happy," Napier said. "First World Cup of the season, I was really pleased."

Hays didn't seem to be.

The 40-year-old veteran opened his season with a silver medal in Friday night's two-man opener. But on Saturday night, he sat in the changing room for about 15 minutes after the race, his left leg propped up on a bench and with an icepack trying to numb his pain. There was no immediate word on the severity of the injury.

He's not the only driving star with injury woes right now. The German considered by many to be the sport's best driver ever might now be facing long odds just to make it to the Vancouver Games.

Andre Lange, who drove to gold at the 2002 and 2006 Olympics in four-man bobsledding plus captured gold at the 2006 Turin Games in two-man, will be off the World Cup circuit indefinitely with a groin injury. He will head back to Germany instead of flying to Lake Placid, N.Y., for next week's circuit stop.

Lange aggravated the injury in two-man racing Friday, and was so hurt Saturday that he didn't even push the sled. He started already seated inside the sleigh, his three pushers doing all the work and then hopping inside. He finished 17th.

"We have to take a break and get ready for Europe," Lange said. "My leg is not ready. It makes no sense to go to Lake Placid. The doctors, the coaches and I sat together, talked about it and the decision is to take a break and try to get ready. The plans, the whole thing is struggling. We'll talk about it and try to find a new way to come back and come back strong."