Contact: Amanda Bird, USABS Marketing & Communications Director, (518) 354-2250, amanda.bird@usabs.com
Kristen Gowdy, USABS Media and Marketing Assistant, (719) 722-0522, kristen.gowdy@usabs.com
Team Bascue leads U.S. in Olympic four-man competition in ninth at halfway point
Photo: Molly Choma
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (Feb. 24, 2018)- Codie Bascue (Whitehall, N.Y.) and his crew of Evan Weinstock (Las Vegas, Nev.), Steve Langton (Melrose, Mass.) and Sam McGuffie (Cypress, Texas) lead Team USA in ninth after the first two runs of the Olympic four-man competition in Pyeongchang this morning.
“We’re happy with that, we’re in a good place to move up tomorrow,” Bascue said. “We’re happy with how we pushed, confident with how the runs went, but there’s room to improve, so that’s a good sign for tomorrow.”
Bascue suffered a left calf injury on the final day of two-man racing five days ago. Despite the injury, Weinstock, Langton and McGuffie were able to power the sled to start times of 4.89 seconds in both heats, fourth and third best of the field.
“The medical staff assured me that I’d be alright and I trust them,” Bascue said. “It hasn’t been feeling too bad walking, just getting ready to race has been a little achy.”
Bascue piloted the crew to the finish in 40.09 seconds in the opening heat, 12th fastest of the 29 sleds, but moved up three positions into ninth after a second run of 49.34 seconds. The top American sled has a total time of 1:38.43 after the first day of racing, just 0.22 seconds from a three-way tie for fifth.
“The field is tight, but we felt good with that second run and I think we can move up more tomorrow,” Bascue said.
Germany’s Francesco Friedrich, Candy Bauer, Martin Grothkopp and Thorsten Margis currently sit atop the leaderboard with a combined time of 1:37.55. Koreans Yunjong Won, Junglin Jun, Youngwoo Seo and Donghyun Kim are second with a 1:37.84, followed by Germans Nico Walter, Kevin Kuske, Alexander Roegider and Eric Franke in third with a 1:37.90. Team Canada, led by Justin Krippes, is 0.23 seconds out of the medal hunt in fourth, followed by a three-way tie for fifth between Germany’s Johannes Lochner, Latvia’s Oskars Melbardis and Switzerland’s Rico Peter.
Nick Cunningham (Monterey, Calif.), Hakeem Abdul-Saboor (Powhatan, Va.), Chris Kinney (Stockbridge, Ga.) and Sam Michener (Gresham, Ore.) are currently in 20th with a two-run total of 1:39.10. Team Cunningham posted starts of 4.96 and 4.98 for runs of 49.60 and 49.50 seconds, respectively.
“Those were two of my best runs I’ve had on this track yet,” Cunningham said. “We’re going to build on that. The place doesn’t really reflect what we put into it. We pushed well as a crew and I drove to the best of my abilities. We’re going to come out tomorrow and keep on fighting. We’re not defeated yet.”
Justin Olsen (San Antonio, Texas), Carlo Valdes (Newport Beach, Calif.), Nate Weber (Pueblo West, Colo.) and Chris Fogt (Alpine, Utah) clocked a combined time of 1:39.33 for 21st position. The crew utilized push times of 4.91 and 4.92 seconds to thread together runs of 49.62 and 49.71 seconds.
“Today we went with an aggressive setup, and I recognized before the race that we were already at a little bit of a disadvantage based on experience,” Olsen said. “In training, we were hit and miss, and we came out today, same thing. Am I upset? Yes. Am I completely surprised? No, I’ve been in this sport for a long time. But I thought I would have more control than that in the first and second curve.”
Four of the 12 U.S. athletes competing made their Olympic debut today: Kinney, Michener, Valdes and Weber. Weinstock, McGuffie and Abdul-Saboor made their debut in the two-man race. While Michener said the team would prefer to be in winning position, they are positive going into tomorrow’s final heats.
“Even sitting 20th we’re all still pretty positive,” Michener said. “We executed well as a team. A lot of it chalks up to bobsled. It’s a crazy sport; sometimes you’re fast, sometimes you’re not. Overall we feel pretty good. I think we’ll change some things overnight and we’ll give it our best.”
The final runs at the Olympic Sliding Center of the 2018 PyeongChang Games will take place tomorrow with the third and fourth heats of four-man at 9:30 a.m. local time. For media inquiries, please contact Amanda Bird, USABS Marketing & Communications Director, at amanda.bird@usabs.com, or at (518) 354-2250.
Results from heats 1 & 2:
1. Francesco Friedrich, Candy Bauer, Martin Grothkopp and Thorsten Margis (GER) 1:37.55 (48.54, 49.01);
2. Yunjong Won, Junglin Jun, Youngwoo Seo and Donghyun Kim (KOR) 1:37.84 (48.65, 49.19);
3. Nico Walther, Kevin Kuske, Alexander Roediger and Eric Franke (GER) 1:37.90 (48.74, 49.16);
9. Codie Bascue, Evan Weinstock, Steve Langton and Sam McGuffie (USA) 1:38.43 (49.09 ,49.34);
20. Nick Cunningham, Hakeem Abdul-Saboor, Chris Kinney and Sam Michener (USA) 1:39.10 (49.60 ,49.50);
21. Justin Olsen, Nate Weber, Carlo Valdes and Chris Fogt (USA) 1:39.33 (49.62, 49.71);
###