“No more 62 years,’’ Steve Holcomb declared yesterday afternoon after he piloted USA-1 and its screaming “Night Train’’ sled to a convincing victory over four-time defending champion Germany and host Canada. “We’ll start the clock over. Now, it’s going to be four years.’’
Not since Francis Tyler triumphed in 1948 in St. Moritz had a star-spangled quartet beaten the rest of the world to the bottom of the five-ringed chute, but Holcomb, Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler, and brakeman Curt Tomasevicz were never challenged here, winning three of the four heats and leaving the Germans and two-time champion Andre Lange a substantial 38-100ths of a second in their wake, posting a total time of 3 minutes 24.46 seconds.
“They embarrassed the field,’’ saluted Lyndon Rush after he and his Canadian mates missed the silver by just 100th of a second. “They showed up in our backyard, and it’s kind of the theme of the Olympic Games. The Americans have shown up in Canada and whipped us.’’
The victory was doubly significant since it provided the 37th medal that allowed the US squad to set the record for the most by any country at a Winter Games. Not that there was much doubt the Americans would make the podium after Holcomb set track records in each of Friday’s two heats to build up a healthy lead coming into the final two heats.
Once yesterday came up foggy and drizzling and the ice turned slow, everyone knew the race would be for silver. Right until the finish, the Canadians thought they had it. They’d been second in the three previous runs and were faster than the Germans until just before the final curve.
“We had them for three heats and to give it away, I was mad,’’ said Rush. “It’s an expensive 100th of a second. It’s 5,000 bucks.’’
That was the difference in the payout from the national Olympic Committee. Still, it was the first time the Canadians made the four-man podium since Vic Emery won in 1964 in Innsbruck. Though the Americans earned silver and bronze with Todd Hays and Brian Shimer in Salt Lake City in 2002, ending a 46-year medal drought, their golden gap went back to a day when the sport was about wide bodies and gravity.
Now the sleds are stock cars on runners, rumbling down at 95 miles per hour and the drivers have Daytona skills. Lange, who was going for an unprecedented third gold medal in the event in his final race, had been the planet’s best pilot. Holcomb, who’d slowly been going blind from a degenerative eye disease, never thought he’d be here.
“I thought I was done completely,’’ he said. But once Holcomb had lens implant surgery two years ago, improving his eyesight from 20/500 to 20/20, he became all but unbeatable.
Holcomb claimed last year’s global title at Lake Placid, the first US champion in 50 years, and he’d won the World Cup crown this season. From the first run here, when he steered the sleek black Night Train deftly through the snow, the man had laser vision.
“He found another gear,’’ said Rush. “He whipped everybody.’’
After the third heat, Holcomb still had a lead of nearly half a second, which essentially turned the final run into a victory lap. But after seeing a half-dozen sleds crash Friday on the world’s fastest track, he was taking nothing for granted. “Forty-five hundredths is a huge lead,’’ Holcomb said, “but in a way, it’s not a big lead at all.’’
Still, one more solid outing was all the Americans needed.
“One more run,’’ Holcomb told his pushers. “Let’s do it, guys.’’ Though the Germans and Canadians were faster in the finale, there was no doubt that USA-1 had the gold locked up.
“Steven certainly was the right one to win this here,’’ said Germany’s Kevin Kuske, whose country failed to win the gold for the first time since 1992. “He has had two great days.’’
It had been more than six decades since any US pilot had two days like it at Olympus.
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