CANADA ONE FINISHES 4TH

Pierre Lueders
of Edmonton
finishes
fourth in
four-man bobsled

Sat, Feb 25, 2006:51 PM

CESANA PARIOL,
Italy (CP) -
Pierre Lueders needed
some help to hit the
podium in the four-man bobsled event at the Olympics on
Saturday and he didn't get it.
The pilot from Edmonton ended up fourth, 0.09
seconds behind Switzerland's Martin Annen for the
bronze medal.
Andre Lange of Germany won gold in three
minutes 40.42 seconds, followed by
Alexandre Zoubkov of Russia at 3:40.55.
Switzerland clocked 3:40.83
while Canada finished at 3:40.92.
Lueders and his crew of Ken Kotyk of Kenora, Ont.,
Morgan Alexander of Regina and
Lascelles Brown of Calgary went into the final run
by the same 0.09-second margin out of third place.
Their time of 54.95 in the third run was their best.
But they couldn't close ground with their fourth
run, clocking a 55.20, and their rivals didn't
make a mistake to secure their medals.
Lange set a track record of 54.80 seconds on this
third run.
Canada 2 pilot Serge Despres of Cocagne, N.B., and
his crew of Nathan Cunningham of Calgary,
Steve Larsen of Langley, B.C., and David Bissett
of Edmonton finished 20th.
The precision and speed of four-man bobsled
makes closing ground difficult.
Making up a few hundredths of a second is like
running 100 metres carrying a couch on your back.
The four-man is both poetic and chaotic.
The start is a recipe for disaster.
Think of four, burly football players trying to leap
into a convertible Volkswagen while it rolls along
at 50 km/h.
After that, the sled's fate rest in the pilot's hands.
He has to look for the right line, find the courage to
go high in the corners to gain speed.
The best make it look easy.
The rest can sometimes end up upside down on
the track.
Lange, 32, won the gold medal ahead of Lueders
in the two-man final last Sunday.
He was the four-man gold medallist at the 2002
Olympics and also won the last three world
championships.

HEY YOU DID THE BEST YOU
COULD AND THATS WHAT
MATTERS.
WE LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!
YOU MADE CANADA PROUD.
WE STAND AT 3RD PLACE IN MEDALS FOR THE FIRST
TIME EVER.
EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE!!!