Lange completes part one of Olympic double in two-man

From Sportsbeat Staff, in Whistler

GERMANY'S Andre Lange completed the first half of the defence of his bobsleigh crowns, sealing the two-man title at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

DONE IT: Andre Lange defends his Olympic two-man bobsleigh title with brakeman Kevin Kuske at the Whistler Sliding Centre (Getty Images)

The 36-year old has been the dominant force in Olympic bobsleigh in recent years, picking up the four-man title in Salt Lake City before collecting the four-man and two-man double in Turin four years ago.

And after taking over the lead in the second run at the Whistler Sliding Centre, the veteran - with brakeman Kevin Kuske - never looked back, eventually beating compatriot Thomas Florschuetz by 0.22 seconds.

"There was a lot of pressure because we are also the Olympic title-holders. Germany of course had high expectations that we would win and now it's great to have it.

"Of course we will celebrate a little tonight, but the mission isn't over yet. But we celebrate when we can.

"It feels like a carnival in my head.

"When I started Bobsleigh 15 years ago, if anyone had said 'you will win four Gold medals', I would've said, 'you're stupid'.

"The equipment is very important, and back in Germany we work on it all year. But then, you have to drive it down. One complements the other.

"I don't know if my record of four Olympic gold medals will be beaten but I hope that there is a bright future for all pilots who come after me.

"I don't know if it can be done again, but in the long history of Bobsleigh I hope that greatness will be achieved beyond what I have achieved."

Meanwhile, Kuske is already plotting yet another gold medal, this time in the four-man competition, due to get underway on Thursday.

"This was now the first step and the next week will be hard again, and we have to concentrate on that," he added.

"I had many problems at the beginning of the season with injury and our sled. It took a long time to get here, I have to wait for this medal and this win to sink in.

 "We will give everything in the four-man. We will not be over confident but Andre is the best pilot I can have."

After the furore surrounding the safety of the Canadian track for the luge competition, the bobsleigh was also steeped in controversy as one of the pre-tournament favourites, Switzerland's Beat Hefti was ruled out of the competition after a crash in training.

The argument spilled over into the competition as Canadian athlete Lyndon Rush rolled during his second run and Great Britain's John James Jackson was disqualified after a roll in his first.

But while his rivals struggled to keep the sled on two runners, Lange kept a cool head throughout to breeze through his four runs.

The German's medal run was typical of his dominance, flying down the technical course in 51.77 seconds - their slowest time of the competition but professional and supreme and good enough for an overall winning time of 3:26.65 minutes.

Florschuetz was the only one who could catch Lange as they started the final run and the 32-year old did all he could with the second quickest time of 51.83.

But Florschuetz, who set a track record of 51.57 in his first run, needed a little bit more than that to win and made do with his first Olympic medal in silver.

Switzerland's World Cup champion Ivo Rueegg showed some late fight to try and close down third-placed Alexsandr Zubkov but the Russian emerged quicker in the final run to capture his second Olympic medal in bronze.

 

AS IT HAPPENS: Day ten of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver