Kohn wraps up a third 4-man Olympic bobsled spot for US at Vancouver Games

Kohn clinches 4-man Olympic bobsled spot

Mike Kohn of the United States has secured a four-man bobsled spot at the Vancouver Olympics, after finishing sixth in a World Cup race Sunday at St. Moritz, Switzerland.

Kohn’s result means the Americans will have three sleds in the Olympic four-man competition, with Steven Holcomb and John Napier having already secured enough points to mathematically wrap up bids that were to be formally announced later Sunday by the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation.

Kohn earned a spot in the two-man Olympic competition on Saturday, also giving the U.S. the maximum allotment of three sleds in that discipline. The USBSF took 14 of a possible 15 Olympic start positions in bobsled and skeleton.

Kohn won a bronze medal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics as a push athlete in Brian Shimer’s four-man sled.

“Winning an Olympic medal was amazing, but it doesn’t compare to the team camaraderie felt over these last few weeks,” Kohn said. “The Olympics is about more than winning medals, and this experience is one I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”

Indeed, getting a third sled into the Olympics for the U.S. was a team effort.

Kohn contemplated retirement when he wasn’t on the World Cup team to begin the season. He was summoned back to the top international circuit midway through the schedule, after veteran and Olympic hopeful Todd Hays retired following a training crash that left him with bleeding within his brain.

So Kohn was in a race against time, trying to get the world ranking points needed to qualify in both two- and four-man competitions. Getting plenty of help from other U.S. bobsledders — Hays included — along the way, Kohn climbed far enough in the standings to reach Vancouver.

“I can’t thank Todd enough for his help and support over the last few weeks in helping our team,” Kohn said. “He’s been a huge part of my success.”

Holcomb’s USA-1 four-man sled will be pushed by Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler and Curt Tomasevicz. Napier’s USA-2 will carry Chuck Berkeley, Steve Langton and Chris Fogt, while Kohn’s USA-3 will have Jamie Moriarty, Bill Schuffenhauer and Nick Cunningham aboard.

In two-man, Holcomb will be with Tomasevicz (who was with Kohn for his final World Cup push), Napier will partner with Langton, and Kohn’s push athlete will be selected later by the USBSF.

“We had a very difficult decision to make regarding our men’s Olympic team because of the depth of our push athletes,” USBSF CEO Darrin Steele said. “In the end we went with the teams that pushed together (Sunday). You can’t argue with the results because Holcomb’s team is ranked first in the world, Napier’s team is ranked second in the world and Kohn’s team finished sixth.”

Two-time defending Olympic four-man champion Andre Lange of Germany drove to his third straight World Cup gold medal Sunday, winning the two-run event at St. Moritz in 2 minutes, 10.13 seconds. Karl Angerer drove another German sled to second, just ahead of the Russian sled piloted by Alexsandr Zubkov.

Holcomb’s team was fourth, and Napier’s sled was 11th on Sunday.