Kohn, Schaaf give US hope of 3 Olympic spots in 2-man and women’s bobsled

Kohn, Schaaf give US hope of 3 bobsled spots

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland — U.S. Olympic hopefuls Mike Kohn and Bree Schaaf likely drove their bobsleds into the Vancouver Games on Saturday.

Kohn was 12th in a two-man World Cup race and Schaaf was 11th in the women’s race. Those finishes are expected to be good enough to earn the United States three spots in both disciplines Sunday when the final Olympic qualifying standings are announced by the International Federation of Bobsled and Tobogganing.

“Kohn did what he needed to do, so it was a good day for the U.S.,” said Steven Holcomb, the top American driver in the World Cup standings and the 2009 world four-man champion.

Germany’s Andre Lange and Canada’s Lyndon Rush tied for the two-man gold medal, while German women swept the podium spots in their race. Lange and Kevin Kuske finished in 2:12.34, as did Rush and Lascelles Brown. Edwin Van Calker and Sybren Jansma from the Netherlands were third.

In the women’s race, Cathleen Martini and Romy Logsch won in 2:14.89, just 0.01 seconds ahead of Sandra Kiriasis and Christin Senkel. Claudia Schramm and Berit Wiacker were third, with Shauna Rohbock and Michelle Rzepka fifth for the U.S.

It’s a complex formula used to calculate world rankings and Olympic start spots. But this weekend’s drama in two-man largely came down to how many points Kohn could collect in the World Cup race as opposed to what Canada’s Serge Despres could manage on the European Cup tour.

Kohn’s additional 128 World Cup points pushed him past Despres in the world rankings, according to calculations done by the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation.

“This is a crucial weekend,” said Darrin Steele, the CEO of the USBSF.

With Rohbock (4th), Erin Pac (6th) and Schaaf (9th), the U.S. is one of only two nations with three women drivers among the top nine in the World Cup standings, with Germany being the other. That should be enough for the U.S. to get three women’s sleds into Vancouver.