Let’s start a new thread now that the Bobsled competition’s underway!

(02-18-2018 09:51 AM)WRCisforgotten79 Wrote:  In the first heat, McGuffie's sled was 25th (of 30); They improved to 13th fastest in the second heat.

Results were wrong - they were 25th in second heat too.

4 man bobsled practice runs continue today in Korea. Sam's 4-man team is actually doing quite well in the practices. They've been consistently the top American team, finishing 13th overall in the 1st practice, 14th in the 2nd practice and just now, 4th overall (out of 29 teams)! They still have 3 more practices (1 today, 2 tomorrow) before the weekend's runs for real.

Go for the podium Sam!

Great day for the USA.

McGuffie's team was 6th in the 4th practice run.

If you haven't seen the Sprint XC Final, it is a must watch. Natalie ran XC with Kikkan in high school in Anchorage.

4 man event heat 1 now beginning. Sam's team goes 13th of 29 teams.

First two teams are going super fast - Sam's team was going mid 49 seconds in their best practice heats but they'll have to go below 49 to be in the top 10 in this heat perhaps?

And by the way, I don't understand how some spectators (or volunteers) are standings mere feet away from the bobsleds going past them at 85 mph-plus. And what's worse, they're not even facing the sledders but have their backs turned. It's scary to watch that.

49.09 run 1 - better than any of their practice times but I'm sure they were hoping for sub-49 seconds. Good start - just a few bumps midways in the race seemed to slow them down.

I think they're going to be tied for 12th after the first run (although there are still a few slower teams yet to do their first run). But more importantly they're only 5 hundredths of a second out of 7th place. The other two American teams are about a half second behind them.

Apparently the ice slows down the more teams that compete (and also later in the day when it warms up, the ice gets slower). So I'm assuming you want to be earlier in each heat as possible, so they're in decent shape after the first heat. The key will be no slow heats.

Heat 2 is later this evening.

Run 2 starting now. Top 20 teams after the third run qualify for Sunday's fourth and final run. They race in reverse order from 20 to 1, so 20th place goes first and Sam's team goes 9th.

Slightly slower in the 2nd run at 49.34. That's going to drop them down a few spots but most of the teams seem to be going about a tenth of a second slower the 2nd time around. They should be no worse than 14th or 15th though heading to tomorrow.

Actually I take it back. Several teams after them have gone much slower than their first heat, so it's possible they''ll move up a spot or two.

It's also notable that their start time (4.89) remains the best in the 2nd heat at this point. I think that's a pretty good indication that McGuffie is a big asset to Team USA.

The pilots are the weak link for the US men (unlike for the women). Inexperienced and without Holcomb no yet medal capable.

They will be 9th heading into Sunday (Korea time, Saturday night in the U.S.). At this point, their run 2 is 10th fastest but they were within .18 of the 2nd fastest team. Only the Germans came close to breaking 49 seconds in the 2nd heat.

(02-23-2018 09:41 PM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  The pilots are the weak link for the US men (unlike for the women). Inexperienced and without Holcomb no yet medal capable.

I agree but I think the pilot (Bascue) is young (just 23) and he's the future of the sport for the Americans. I bet you those 2 (and 4 in the 4-man) are going to be even better in upcoming world championships with more experience.

3rd round starting now. They race in order of their current place so the Germans in the lead are first (and they break 49 seconds). Sam's team will go 9th.

Top teams are all breaking 49 seconds. Track is fast.

49.08 - not bad - but that won't move them up any spots. But I think they can hold onto a top 10 spot heading to the final run.

ETA - that's actually faster than the 3rd German team so that's impressive.

ETA2 - they will be 9th but it may be difficult to go up any higher than that. They are .17 behind 8th, and .13 ahead of 10th. Barring a disastrous final run, they should be in great position for a top-10 finish. It's likely one of the final 2 American teams will be in the top 20 but one of them are probably not going qualify for the 4th and final run.

Actually the Czech teams ahead and behind the last 2 American teams both were slow, so all 3 American teams will make the final run. Sam's team has shown steady improvement, going from T12, to 10th, to 8th in the 3 heats. They're still 9th overall but they are doing remarkably well for a team that is so young in this sport.

McGuffie's final run coming up - times are definitely slower this time around for most of the teams.