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International Capsules: Comedian Stephen Colbert goes bobsledding
Comments 0 | Recommend 0LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — Comedian Stephen Colbert took the "Night Train" and it nearly left him speechless.
Colbert donned a reddish-orange racing suit Sunday and went on a ride with U.S. bobsled driver Steven Holcomb. He was in the black sled that Holcomb had just driven to the four-man World Cup gold medal at Mount Van Hoevenberg.
With the crowd at the finish line chanting his name, Colbert hopped into the third slot normally manned by Steve Mesler and tucked in tight between Justin Olsen and brakeman Curtis Tomasevicz. About a minute later, Colbert emerged unscathed but breathing hard.
"Having won today's competition, you are today the fastest in the world at this," Colbert said to Holcomb and his team. "I had to pick the fastest team. Thank you. It felt like I was being hit in the head with ice hammers. It was like losing the worst snowball fight of your life."
Colbert said he looked up for only the first four turns on the way down the 20-turn layout, then buried his head in Olsen's back for the quick ride to the bottom.
"Oh, my gosh! That was the ride of my life," said Colbert, who is urging his viewers to support the U.S. Olympic speedskating team. "I've ridden with the Thunderbirds. They have nothing on you."
"I was just trying to make it down, make a safe run," Holcomb said. "It was interesting. I had a piece of tape hit me in the face from the camera (that fell off) on the way down. That was not cool."
Before he walked away to present World Cup silver medals to the U.S. four-man team led by John Napier, Colbert tried to console Mesler, a huge fan who was disappointed to be the odd man out for the ride.
"I have some terrible news. I can't wait to go to Vancouver and be on the Olympic team," Colbert said. "It's going to be hard to tell Mesler. Is he emotionally frail? "Evidently, I am very good at having weight and allowing gravity to drive me downhill. That's all I contributed to the team. Did you hear me screaming like a little girl? I had my shoulders up around my ear canal and my head was slamming against the side of this thing. It felt like I was the Liberty Bell."
Colbert also took a skeleton ride. He said it was his favorite of the two for one reason.
"It's slower," he said.
Holcomb wins bobsled gold at Lake Placid
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — Steven Holcomb said the U.S. bobsled team was going to be a powerhouse this year. He sure seems like a prophet.
Holcomb, the reigning four-man bobsled world champion, won the four-man World Cup event at Mount Van Hoevenberg on Sunday, giving the U.S. a 1-2 finish for the second straight day.
"I've been saying all summer that we have the strongest U.S. team ever," Holcomb said. "I think today shows that we're going to be a real fighting force out there. We're not going to be pushovers like everybody thought we were going to be.
"Winning the world championships here you can become complacent, but we're not," said Holcomb, whose four-man triumph in worlds came last February. "We're stronger than we were last year. I'm excited."
Holcomb finished the two-run race in 1 minute, 49.60 seconds to beat teammate John Napier, who rallied from fourth to second on the final run for his second career World Cup medal.
Napier, who won the two-man gold on Saturday just ahead of Holcomb, finished 0.44 seconds behind and 0.10 ahead of third-place finisher Wolfgang Stampfer of Austria.
"We're deep and we're strong," Napier said. "We're ready to keep winning medals, keep this going."
American Mike Kohn, subbing for the injured Todd Hays, finished 14th.
Holcomb quickly sent a message on Sunday's first run that he would be the man to beat. Stampfer was the first to slide the 20-curve track, which had remained soft all weekend because of rain and air temperatures well above freezing, and with the benefit of the best ice posted a time of 54.79 seconds.
One by one, the next nine drivers in the 23-sled field laid down faster times than Stampfer at the top but steadily lost ground on the way down. Napier watched his 0.27 edge vanish in the final turns, losing nearly a third of a second to finish fourth in 54.86, just behind Ivo Rueegg of Switzerland.
Holcomb slid 11th, and his flat-black-painted sled dubbed "Night Train" thundered to the top of the leaderboard. He and his crew of Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler and brakeman Curtis Tomasevicz were ahead by 0.35 midway down, and despite bumping a wall in the chicane and sliding sideways through the uphill portion at the bottom of the tricky layout, finished 0.04 ahead.
"The first run I just made a slight mistake in 19 and paid the price," said Holcomb, who had the two fastest starts of the day. "But the day goes to the pushers, 4.96 and 4.94 (seconds at the start), that's pretty huge. They stepped it up.
"The advantage goes to the teams off first in this competition, and we were off 11th. We just had an unfortunate draw, but a good push like that we could have that rough ride and stay in the mix."
Napier had the second-fastest time, 55.18 seconds, on his second run and was all smiles at the finish, the clang of his mother Betsy's massive gold cowbell echoing in the Adirondack Mountain air and scores of American fans chanting USA! USA! USA!
"I made a few mistakes on my first run and I cleaned them all up, luckily, on the second and I think it showed," the 22-year-old Napier, a track rat here since he was a kid, said after a storybook weekend for his family.
With two of eight World Cup races in the books and the Vancouver Olympics looming in less than three months, Holcomb tops the two-man standings by two points over Rueegg and is tied for second in four-man with Lyndon Rush of Canada. Napier sits fourth in two-man and fifth in four-man.
"With Todd Hays out for now, it's going to be interesting to see him go overseas," Holcomb said of Napier. "With a solid push group behind him, he's going to show that he's a good driver.
"There are still other countries in the mix — the Swiss, the Germans — but as long as we keep our momentum going from here, it's going to help us in the long run," Holcomb said. "He (Napier) knows what's on the line."
Rush won last week's season-opener in four-man at Park City, Utah, and finished seventh here on Sunday. He blamed a training crash on Wednesday for his so-so finish in Lake Placid.
"I still feel like we're underdogs, but I don't mind feeling like an underdog," Rush said. "Just got to keep working hard."
German star Andre Lange did not compete here. Lange, the two-time defending Olympic champion in four-man and the 2006 gold winner in two-man, is out indefinitely with a groin injury suffered in Park City. Alexsandr Zubkov of Russia, the defending World Cup champion in four-man, did not start the four-man and Swiss driver Beat Hefti, the defending two-man World Cup champ, skipped the event.
"If you would have asked me, I would have said Holcomb would have won both races this weekend, especially with who isn't here," Rush said. "But Napier? That's a great story. It gives me shivers. You could make a movie about it."
-- John Kekis
Luger Tony Benshoof's back woes are back again
Tony Benshoof's back problem is back, already causing concern for the Olympic season.
The USA Luge veteran, who was fourth in the 2006 Turin Olympics, will receive an epidural cortisone injection Monday in Calgary, Alberta, to treat a recurrence of a herniated disk in his back — the same problem he had surgery on 11 months ago.
Tests performed this weekend confirmed what Benshoof himself suspected, that the same disk that caused him pain before is pushing against a nerve root again. The problem began flaring up considerably on Wednesday.
"Basically, it's a small version of the problem I had a year ago," Benshoof said.
He was sixth in the World Cup opener at Calgary on Saturday, even with the back pain, and said he's "hopeful" of racing when the international series continues in Igls, Austria, this coming weekend.
Benshoof finished the two-run competition in Calgary 0.423 seconds behind Armin Zoeggler of Italy, and about one-third of a second away from a bronze medal.
"Hopefully, that in combination with the anti-inflammatory medication I'm taking will get me through the next few races," Benshoof said late Saturday. "It's kind of a step-by-step process. I have to be really smart about it and really ease back on movements that cause pain."
The problem is, that includes sliding.
Benshoof said before the Calgary opening race that the back pain could have come from any number of factors, including intense weight training, air travel and bumpy training runs on the 2010 Olympic track in Whistler, British Columbia.
What really exacerbated the issue, though, might have been something that seems so simple — picking his sled up while exiting the track.
"It was the last training run before the Nation's Cup," Benshoof said, referring to a competition held Thursday. "I just reached over like I've done a million times to pick up my sled and I just felt a really sharp, really excruciating pain right in my lower back region. It was very acute, very localized. I didn't feel anything down my leg, but it was debilitating. It brought me right to my knees."
He said he knew right away what the MRI exam would reveal.
The 34-year-old Benshoof has battled back issues for years. This season is his 21st in the USA Luge program, and if he makes the team — as still expected — for the Vancouver Games, it would be Benshoof's third time racing in the Olympics.
-- Tim Reynolds
Norway, Sweden win World Cup relays
BEITOSTOLEN, Norway — Norway won the men's opening World Cup cross-country ski relay on Sunday, while Sweden took the women's event.
Triple world champion Petter Northug surged ahead just before the final straight to give Norway a 5.1-second win over Russia.
"The pace was not that fast, I had everything under control," said Northug, who caught the front-runners 2 kilometers into the leg.
The Norwegians covered the 4x10 kilometer mixed-style race in 1 hour, 48 minutes, 50.7 seconds. Also on the team were Eldar Ronning, Martin Johnsrud Sundby and Ronny Hafsas. Germany finished third, 11.8 seconds behind.
Charlotte Kalla skied a strong anchor leg to help Sweden win the women's relay.
Kalla overtook leader Aino-Kaisa Saarinen of Finland a few kilometers into the final leg and held on to secure victory in the 4x5K mixed-style event in 58:37.1. Norway was second, 16.7 seconds back and Finland took third 22 seconds behind.
"When I took the lead I was able to ski more relaxed," Kalla said. "I'm really happy about this. We all fought very hard."
It was Sweden's first relay win in two years and the last relay to be held before the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in February.
Kramer breaks track record in 10,000 at WCup meet
HAMAR, Norway — Sven Kramer broke a track record in the 10,000 meters by 23.19 seconds at a World Cup speedskating meet on Sunday.
The Dutchman finished in 12 minutes, 50.96 seconds to lower the mark set in 2006 by Norway's Lasse Satre on the Viking Ship track, venue for the speedskating events during the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics.
Kramer was paired with Olympic champion Bob de Jong of the Netherlands, who finished second in 12:54.97.
Kramer, the defending world champion at 10,000 meters, set the world record of 12:41.69 in March 2007 at Salt Lake City, Utah.
After three of six races, Kramer leads the standings with 300 points. De Jong is second with 210.
Kristina Groves of Canada won the women's 1,500 in 1:55.16. Ireen Wust of the Netherlands was next in 1:55.95 and Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic took third in 1:56.34.
Groves tops the standings with 230 points, 26 ahead of Wust.
Track & Field
Bolt, Richards win Athlete of the Year awards
MONACO — Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt and 400-meter runner Sanya Richards of the United States won their second IAAF World Athlete of the Year awards on Sunday.
Bolt retained the honor by winning the 100- and 200-meter finals in record times at the World Championships in Berlin, matching his 100-200 double from the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He won a third gold in the 400-meter relay.
"It's been an amazing year for me," said Bolt, whose training was hampered after he injured his foot when he crashed his car in April.
"I had to refocus my goals and put in a lot of hard work. I did extremely well and I'm proud of myself."
Richards, the 2006 winner, got her first major individual gold medal at the worlds in August. She also won at all six Golden League meetings in Europe to claim a share of the $1 million jackpot given to athletes who swept their event.
"I am so excited and overwhelmed," said the Jamaican-born Richards, who was a favorite in Beijing but took bronze. "You work so hard to be a world champion. It's right up there with winning the title in Berlin."
Lamine Diack, president of track and field's world governing body, praised Bolt for raising his performances to "an unimaginable level."
"We need stars in the sport," the IAAF chief said. "He brings a lot of prestige to our sport and is one of the best-known people on the planet."
The 23-year-old Bolt said he aimed to go unbeaten through the 2010 season, when he will compete at seven of the 14 meets that will make up the new global Diamond League circuit.
He has signed a contract to race against Tyson Gay of the U.S. and fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell — the three fastest men in history who went 1-2-3 in Berlin.
"A lot of people are going to watch out for the showdowns," Bolt said.
Gay told The Associated Press on Saturday that he wanted a 100 rematch with Bolt at the New York City meet on June 12.
"That would make track and field huge again in the United States," Gay said at a Diamond League launch.
Richards credited Bolt and other Jamaican sprinters for inspiring her in Beijing with their obvious love of the sport.
"These athletes were just having so much fun," Richards recalled. "I was so focused on winning, the medals and the money and everything that came with being a champion that I forgot the simple enjoyment and fun of track and field."
Richards said she began to relax during races after she and her parents watched videos of her running as a 7-year-old.
"I just felt like I was running a lot lighter, the races became a lot easier," she said.
Richards said her goal for 2010 is to break the U.S. record of 48.70 she set in Athens three years ago.
Her next main event is getting married to New York Giants cornerback Aaron Ross in Austin, Texas, on her 25th birthday in February.
Bolt topped a short list that included sprint rival Gay and three other world champions: 5,000 and 10,000 winner Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia, pole vaulter Steven Hooker of Australia and Norwegian javelin thrower Andreas Thorkildsen.
Richards beat world champions Valerie Vili, the shot putter from New Zealand, Croatian high jumper Blanka Vlasic and Poland's Anita Wlodarczyk, who set a world record in winning the hammer throw title, plus Russian pole vault world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva.
Votes were cast by nearly 1,800 athletes, officials and journalists.
-- Graham Dunbar
Crews is first U.S. man to win Philly since 2000
PHILADELPHIA — John Crews became the first U.S.-born man to win the Philadelphia Marathon since 2000, racing to victory by more than six minutes on Sunday.
The 25-year-old Crews completed the 26.2-mile course in 2 hours, 17 minutes, 15 seconds. Brian Clas of New York was the last U.S. man to win the race.
"I thought if I had a good day I would be up there," said Crews, a native of Lexington, Va., who lives in Raleigh, N.C.
Jutta Merilainen won the women's event in 2:46:44. She beat Doreen McCoubrie of Malvern, Pa., who finished in 2:49.09.
The 37-year-old Merilainen, a native of Finland who lives and trains near Toronto, started to think she had a shot at winning about halfway through the race. She ended up with a personal best time.
"This was my biggest win so far," she said.
Crews passed Philadelphia runner Karl Savage near the 23-mile mark and was never threatened afterward. Crews' 2:17:15 gives the native of Lexington, Va., an automatic qualifying time for the 2012 U.S. men's Olympic marathon trials.
After the race, he thanked his fiancee, Amy Kelly, who hails from Philadelphia and finished third in Sunday's accompanying 8-kilometer race. Her family was out cheering them both.
"They were all out on the course cheering for me," Crews said. "They're all from Philadelphia, so it was nice to get the win in front of them. It's just starting to sink in."
Figure Skating
Rochette captures gold at Skate Canada
KITCHENER, Ontario — Gold medals at Skate Canada came from vastly different performances for Joannie Rochette and Jeremy Abbott.
Canada's Rochette, the world silver medalist, won the final Grand Prix series event Saturday, but several missteps showed she still has plenty of work to do.
Alissa Czisny, the U.S. women's champion, was second.
The 23-year-old Rochette won her third women's singles title at Skate Canada, scoring 112.90 points for her free skate to "Samson and Delilah" for a total of 182.90. But the routine was dotted with flaws, including a planned triple lutz that she doubled.
"I know I can do this program much better, but it's really challenging physically to do," Rochette said. "I was really happy to fight for every single element and I'll go home and work really hard on that last minute of the program.
"I think this will be a good one to have in the bag before the (Olympic) Games."
Those games will be in Vancouver, where Rochette will be under a glaring spotlight. But first she has earned a spot in next month's Grand Prix final in Tokyo, and despite the long trip said she'd appreciate getting one more performance under her belt.
"I'm happy to have qualified. It's a prestigious event and I think it's going to be great, especially after this long program," Rochette said. "I'm really excited to have one more chance to do my programs internationally before Olympics."
So is Abbott.
The U.S. champion won the men's event with 232.99 points, landing the only quadruple jump of the night, edging Daisuke Takahashi of Japan (231.31).
"Obviously the Grand Prix final was on the line, but I really wasn't thinking about it while I was out there," Abbott said. "I wanted to put the quad out there for the first time this season, and to keep the rest of my program together."
He did so nicely, and Abbott could be a major factor in Tokyo before he heads to nationals, where the Olympic squad will be decided — and where the competition for the three spots available to the United States will be tight.
I'm pleased," Abbott said. "I was really nervous going into it. I heard Daisuke's score, and it was very big. I just really wanted to keep it together. I wasn't worried about winning."
Daisuke also qualified for the Grand Prix final.
Patrick Chan of Canada, who was runner-up to Evan Lysacek of the United States at this year's world championships, fell three times in his free program to wind up sixth in his season debut.
World champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy skated away with pairs gold with 206.71 points, ahead of Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov of Russia.
Canadian ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir skated a world's best with 204.38 points to win the gold. Their stunning performance to "Adagietto" scored 103.12 for the free dance.
Virtue and Moir sat out the entire Grand Prix series last season while Virtue recovered from surgery on both legs to relieve chronic shin pain. They've made a strong comeback, winning Trophee Bombard and Skate Canada to qualify for Tokyo.
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