The four-man bobsleigh competition at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, was held at the Whistler Sliding Centre in Whistler, British Columbia, on 26–27 February. 2010 Winter Olympics bobsleigh schedule. Accessed 6 November 2009.

Background The German team of André Lange, René Hoppe, Kevin Kuske, and Martin Putze were the defending Olympic champion in this event.2006 Winter Olympics bobsleigh four-man results. Accessed 6 November 2009. The American team of Steve Holcomb, Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler, and Curtis Tomasevicz were the defending world champions in this event.FIBT World Championships 2009 bobsleigh four-man results. Accessed 6 November 2009. The test event was won by the Latvian team of Jānis Miņins, Daumants Dreiškens, Oskars Melbardis, and Intars Dambis.Whistler Sliding Centre World Cup 7 February 2009 bobsleigh four-man results. Accessed 6 November 2009. The last World Cup event prior to the 2010 Games place took place in Igls, Austria (southeast of Innsbruck) on 24 January 2010 and was won by the German team of Lange, Hoppe, Kuske, and Putze.FIBT Bobsleigh World Cup Igls 24 January 2010 four-man results. Accessed 24 January 2010. Holcomb of the United States won both the four-manFIBT Bobsleigh World Cup final four-man rankings. Accessed 24 January 2010. and the combined World Cups.FIBT Bobsleigh World Cup final combined men's rankings. Accessed 24 January 2010.

Records While the IOC does not consider bobsled times eligible for Olympic records, the FIBT does maintain records for both the start and a complete run at each track it competes.

The start and track records were set at the test event for the 2010 Games on 7 February 2009.

Type Date Team Time Start 7 February 2009 Steve Holcomb Justin OlsenSteve Mesler Curtis Tomasevicz 4.76 Track 7 February 2009 Jānis Miņins Daumants DreiškensOskars Melbardis Intars Dambis 50.97

Qualifying teams On 20 January 2010, the FIBT announced that the following teams had qualified for the 2010 Games: (20 January 2010 article accessed 21 January 2010.)FIBT bobsleigh four-man quotas for the 2010 Winter Olympics. 20 January 2010. Accessed 21 January 2010. This was finalized on 26 January 2010. (26 January 2010; article accessed 27 January 2010.)26 January 2010 FIBT final quota allocations for bobsleigh four-man at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Accessed 27 January 2010.

Three teams , , and .

Two teams , , , and .

One team , , , , , , , , ,, , , and .

Practice Supplemental training was offered on 19 February 2010 to both the two-woman and four-man bobsleigh events out of caution and further preparation for both events that would take place the following week. (19 February 2010 article accessed 19 February 2010.)

Minor changes were made to the track on 22 February 2010 after bobsleigh four-man teams from Latvia and Croatia rolled over in supplementary training."Bobsleigh-Whistler track tweaked after further spills". 22 February 2010. Martyn Herman. Yahoo! Sports. Accessed 23 February 2010. Following a meeting with 11 team captains, training runs were postponed by the FIBT until later that day to adjust the shape of turn 11 so it would be easier for sleds to get through the rest of the track without crashing. FIBT spokesman Don Krone stated that "...some drivers have been experiencing difficulties transitioning from turn 11 to turn 12." As a result, Krone stated that "The FIBT track commission, in conjunction with VANOC and with advice from a number of team captains, are working on the shape of turn 11 to make it easier for drivers to get high enough on 11 to turn 12 so that they can successfully make it through turn 13." Krone also stated that it was common that the profile of corners were changed when it was being used by other sliding disciplines (luge and skeleton).

After track alterations were done on 23 February 2010, the two fastest four-man times were done by Germany's Lange and the United States' Holcomb."Bobsleigh-Lange quickest in training as track mellows." 23 February 2010. Yahoo! Sports. Martyn Herman. Accessed 24 February 2010. Australia withdrew its four-man team on 23 February 2010 to two of its crew members, Duncan Harvey and Duncan Pugh, suffering concussions. Australia chef de mission Ian Chesterman stated that the decision was not taken lightly and was done on the side of safety."Bobsleigh-Concussed Australians out of four-man race." 23 February 2010. Yahoo! Sports. Martyn Herman. Accessed 24 February 2010. Meanwhile, Latvia's Janis Minins returned to practice on the 23rd in the wake of the emergency surgery on 12 February in the wake of an appendicitis attack."Bobsleigh-Latvian wildman flies again after hiccup hell". 23 February 2010. Martyn Herman. Yahoo! Sports. Accessed 24 February 2010. Minis withdrew from the four-man event two days later to crashing twice during practice where one of his crews suffering a concussion and another suffering bruised lungs and elbows."Latvia withdraws from four-man event". AP Yahoo! Sports. 25 February 2010. Accessed 27 February 2010.

Lange had the fastest practice times on the 24th with the final two practices taking place on the 25th. (24 February 2010 article accessed 25 February 2010.) That same day, Australia withdrew to injuries to Harvey and Pugh of Australia while Edwin van Calker of the Netherlands withdrew due to a lack of confidence of driving the four-man sled during the event. This was also despite no crashes during four-man training had taken place prior to the 24th. The Dutch team supported van Calker's decision on this.

During practice American bobsledder Bill Schuffenhauer was detained by police on 25 February, in the wake of an argument with his fiancé, but he was later released for reasons not disclosed by Canadian authorities. Schuffenhauer competed in the four-man event for Mike Kohn's USA-3 sled."US bobsledder detained, released by police". 25 February 2010. Tom Withers (AP) Yahoo! Sports. Accessed 26 February 2010. USA-3 finished 13th.

Results The first two runs took place on 26 February at 13:00 PST and 14:45 PST. On 27 February, the final two runs took place at 13:00 PST and 14:40 PST.

Defending world champion Holcomb posted the fastest track times in the first two runs while defending Olympic champion Lange had the fastest start times in the first two runs. (27 February 2010 article accessed 27 February 2010.) Russia-2 driven by Zubkov, the defending four-man silver medalist and bronze medalist in the two-man event at these games, crashed out in the first run when one of his steering ropes broke. Austria-1 and Slovakia-1 also crashed out in the first run, and neither sled started the second run, nor did Russia-2. Second run crashes involved USA-2, Great Britain-1, and Japan-1. USA-2 did not participate in the 3rd run of the event. Lange, the defending Olympic champion, also had the fastest two start times in the final two runs and the fastest track time in the final run while Holcomb had the fastest track time in the third run. (28 February 2010 article accessed 28 February 2010.) Rush was second after three runs, but Lange's fastest track time in the fourth heat allowed the German, with Rödiger replacing Hoppe, to beat the Canadian by 0.01 seconds to win silver. In the final race of his career, Lange did not win a gold medal in an Olympic bobsledding event. It was the first gold medal for the U.S. men in bobsleigh at the Winter Olympics since Francis Tyler's four-man win at St. Moritz in 1948.

In attendance was former NASCAR driver Geoff Bodine, 1986 Daytona 500 winner and co-founder of the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project, who watched one of his sleds driven by Holcomb ("Night Train") win the gold medal."Bobsleigh-Bodine's NASCAR knowhow speeds U.S." 25 February 2010. Martyn Herman. Yahoo! Sports. Accessed 28 February 2010. The first Bo-Dyn sleds debuted at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer though it would take eight more years in Salt Lake City before the Americans medaled. Bodine expressed his satisfaction with the project prior to the start of the four-man event.

TR = Track Record. Top finish in each run is in boldface.

Rank Bib Country Athletes Run 12010 Winter Olympics Bobsleigh 26 February 2010 four-man run 1 results. Accessed 27 February 2010. Run 22010 Winter Olympics Bobsleigh 26 February 2010 four-man run 2 results. Accessed 27 February 2010. Run 32010 Winter Olympics Bobsleigh 27 February 2010 four-man run 3 results. Accessed 28 February 2010. Run 42010 Winter Olympics Bobsleigh 27 February 2010 four-man run 4 results. Accessed 28 February 2010. Total Behind 1 Steve Holcomb Steve MeslerCurtis TomaseviczJustin Olsen 50.89-TR 50.86-TR 51.19 51.52 3:24.46 +0.00 2 André Lange Kevin KuskeAlexander RödigerMartin Putze 51.14 51.05 51.29 51.36 3:24.84 +0.38 7 Lyndon Rush David BissettLascelles BrownChris le Bihan 51.12 51.03 51.24 51.46 3:24.85 +0.39 4 Thomas Florschütz Ronny ListnerAndreas BaruchaRichard Adjei 51.14 51.36 51.45 51.63 3:25.58 +1.12 10 Pierre Lueders Justin KrippsNeville WrightJesse Lumsden 51.27 51.29 51.50 51.54 3:25.60 +1.14 5 Ivo Rüegg Thomas LamparterCedric GrandBeat Hefti 51.31 51.13 51.70 51.57 3:25.71 +1.25 6 Karl Angerer Andreas BredauAlex MannGregor Bermbach 51.18 51.41 51.70 51.77 3:26.06 +1.60 11 Yevgeni Popov Alexey KireevDenis MoiseychenkovAndrey Yurkov 51.49 51.16 51.67 51.81 3:26.13 +1.67 19 Simone Bertazzo Danilo SantarsieroSamuele RomaniniMirko Turri 51.57 51.38 51.62 51.68 3:26.25 +1.79 8 Dmitry Abramovitch Roman OreshnikovSergey PrudnikovDmitriy Stepushkin 51.32 51.40 51.78 51.75 3:26.25 +1.79 11 12 Edgars Maskalāns Mihails ArhipovsRaivis BroksPāvels Tulubjevs 51.60 51.42 51.85 51.78 3:26.65 +2.19 12 15 Ivo Danilevič Jan KobiánJan StokláskaDominik Suchý 51.54 51.72 51.76 51.96 3:26.98 +2.52 13 13 Mike Kohn Nick CunninghamJamie MoriartyBill Schuffenhauer 51.69 51.42 52.10 52.11 3:27.32 +2.86 14 16 Dawid Kupczyk Michał ZblewskiPaweł MrózMarcin Niewiara 51.94 51.96 52.35 52.28 3:28.53 +4.07 15 14 Nicolae Istrate Ioan Danut DovalciucIonut AndreiFlorin Cezar Craciun 52.05 52.00 52.34 52.50 3:28.89 +4.43 16 25 Jan Vrba Martin BohmannOndřej KozlovskýMiloš Veselý 52.00 52.09 52.43 52.61 3:29.13 +4.67 17 20 John James Jackson Allyn CondonDan MoneyHenry Odili Nwume 51.53 54.29 52.24 52.15 3:30.21 +5.75 18 24 Vuk Rađenović Miloš SavićIgor ŠarcevicSlobodan Matijević 52.37 52.40 52.84 52.74 3:30.35 +5.89 19 22 Kang Kwang-Bae Lee JinheeKim DonghyunKim Jung-Su 52.76 52.53 52.92 52.92 3:31.13 +6.67 20 21 Ivan Šola Igor MarićSlaven KrajačićMate Mezulić (Runs 1–2)András Haklits (Runs 3–4) 52.58 52.69 53.15 53.11 3:31.53 +7.07 21 23 Hiroshi Suzuki Ryuichi KobayashiShinji DoigawaMasaru Miyauchi 52.09 54.16 52.53 3 John Napier Christopher FogtSteven LangtonCharles Berkeley 51.30 53.41 9 Alexandr Zubkov Filipp YegorovPetr MoiseevDmitry Trunenkov 52.52 17 Wolfgang Stampfer Christian HacklJuergen MayerJohannes Wipplinger 53.64 18 Milan Jagnešák Marcel LopuchovskýPetr NarovecMartin Tešovič 55.25 - Jeremy Rolleston Duncan HarveyDuncan PughAnthony Ryan - Jānis Miņins Daumants DreiškensOskars MelbārdisIntars Dambis - Michael Klingler Jürgen BerginzThomas DürrRichard Wunder - Edwin van Calker Sybren JansmaArnold van CalkerTimothy Beck - Daniel Schmid Alex BaumannRoman HandschinChristian Aebli

References

External links 2010 Winter Olympics results: Four-Man (heat 1), from https://web.archive.org/web/20091025194336/http://www.vancouver2010.com/; retrieved 2010-02-26. 2010 Winter Olympics results: Four-Man (heat 2), from https://web.archive.org/web/20091025194336/http://www.vancouver2010.com/; retrieved 2010-02-26. 2010 Winter Olympics results: Four-Man (heat 3), from https://web.archive.org/web/20091025194336/http://www.vancouver2010.com/; retrieved 2010-02-26. 2010 Winter Olympics results: Four-Man (heat 4), from https://web.archive.org/web/20091025194336/http://www.vancouver2010.com/; retrieved 2010-02-26.