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Great start to men's bobsleigh season

 

Great start to men's bobsleigh season

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AOC
Great start to men's bobsleigh season

BOBSELIGH: The Australian men's bobsleigh team have kicked off their Olympic campaign with great success.

BOBSLEIGH: The Australian men's bobsleigh team have kicked off their Olympic campaign with great success.

The 2-man and 4-man crews both finished a credible 13th at the North America's Cup in Calgary, Canada over the weekend.

"The first races were a success for us, with some positives and some things to work on for the next races," pilot Heath Spence said.

In the 2-man, a minor injury forced a change to the brakeman position between runs.

"The first 2-man race was with Duncan Harvey, however after pushing a great 5.28 he had to pull out due to a quad niggle," Spence said.

"Lucas Mata stepped up for the second run and pushed a 5.32. We finished 13th."

The following evening the conditions were a little frostier. The pushes were a few hundredths slower and the drives not as smooth.

"We dropped a few spots to 17th however still beat some very vital nations in both races like, Japan, Jamaica, Romania and Slovakia, Brazil and Monaco.

"These nations are gunning for the single nation spots at the games as we are," spence said.

The 4-man was contested the next day, with Spence combinining with Mata, Gareth Nichols and Anthony Ryan. The conditions were unfavourable, with the men experiencing snow and freezing conditions.

"We finished up in 13th then 14th, again beating some vital nations," Spence said.

"The drives were good and the pushes were a little off the pace. However we stepped it up and placed well."

Spence was really pleased with the results against some of the stronger nations as well as direction of what to focus on in training.

"The nations that were ahead of us in both 2-man and 4-man are all World Cup nations and a big majority of them are top-10 finishers," he said.

"So finishing 13th in a 33 sled field in the 2-man and 13th in a 23 sled field in the 4-man is very noteworthy."

"All in all a good learning experience and a great start to this season. Many things to work on but very happy for the first race."

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