WHISTLER, British Columbia — First to the finish. First to four gold medals.
Germany’s Andre Lange, bobsled’s best driver, won his fourth gold in four career Olympic races Sunday, taking the two-man competition to become the winningest pilot in Olympic history and increase the medal total for a country that has mastered the sliding sports like no other.
With cropped hair he recently dyed blond — golden blond — just for the Vancouver Games, Lange completed his four trips down Whistler Sliding Centre’s track in 3 minutes, 26.65 seconds, 0.22 ahead of Germany’s Thomas Flor-schuetz (3:26.87), who won the silver. Russia’s Alexsandr Zubkov (3:27.51) won the bronze.
Steve Holcomb of the United States finished sixth but could hardly care. He used the two-man as a tuneup for his best race, the four-man, where he’ll try to end a gold medal drought dating to 1948 for the U.S. in his sled dubbed “The Night Train.”
The Associated Press
