Sports

Olympics

U.S. makes noise in bobsled events

By DAVE SCHEIBER
Published November 27, 2005

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Bobsled driver Jean Prahm and brakeman Vonetta Flowers continue their forceful run toward Turin and possibly the medal stand in 2006.

Last week at a World Cup event in Lake Placid, N.Y., Prahm and Flowers tied Germany's Sandra Kiriasis and Anja Schneiderheinze , marking only the second time in the past 24 World Cup races that any team other than one from Germany won. In each case, it was Prahm-Flowers who did it. They won at St. Moritz last year, snapping a 20-race World Cup win streak by Germany.

Flowers, you may recall, is the first black athlete to win a gold medal in the Winter Olympics when she and Jill Bakken stole the show in 2002. In the process, they overshadowed a team that included the favored Prahm (who then went by her maiden name, Racine). But after the Salt Lake City Games, Bakken took time off and Flowers was paired with Prahm. They're a tandem to watch in February.

Another good sign for the women: the third-place finish of Americans Shauna Rohbock and Valerie Fleming , who were 0.31 behind the leaders. "Gold and a bronze medal," U.S. coach Bill Tavares said after the race. "Not a bad way to start the season."

Meanwhile, the U.S. men's bobsled team won two of three medals in the two-man Verizon Cup race in Lake Placid. Mike Kohn and Alex Sprague took silver, and Todd Hays and Pavic Jovanic earned bronze. "It's nice to be up there with another U.S. team on our home track," Kohn said.

NBC Sports is partnering with the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation to broadcast a winter sports festival entitled Ice 2005 . The four-hour, two-day broadcast will air 4-6p.m. Dec. 10-11.

MENDING SKELETON: The U.S. women's skeleton team, which lost World Cup champion Noelle Pikus-Pace to a broken leg last month, is holding its own. Katie Uhlaender took a World Cup bronze, her second straight, while teammate Courtney Yamada finished sixth last week in Lake Placid. That left the United States in second place in the overall team standings. The team needs to be among the top three in mid January to qualify two athletes for Turin.

"If we all do our jobs, it'll happen very easily," U.S. skeleton coach Tim Nardiello said. "Even without Noelle."

SASHA SILVER: Figure skater Sasha Cohen , the U.S. World silver medalist, is returning to form after a hip injury this season. She won a silver last weekend at the Trophee Eric Bompard in Paris. She landed three triple-double combinations in her free skate, but fell on her triple Salchow. "I was proud of my performance," she said.

"For me, it is a little disappointing not to win, but I was here to evaluate my programs, to check what I needed to improve," Cohen said.

Kimmie Meissner , making her Grand Prix debut, was fourth in the free skate, fifth overall.

The winner, by the way, was 15-year-old Mao Asada , called by Cohen's coach, John Nicks , "the finest jumper in the world in the ladies division." Asada, however, is too young to compete in the 2006 Games. Rules state a skater needs to be 15 by the July 1 that precedes the World Championships and Olympics. So watch for Asada in 2010.

If you're wondering, Tara Lipinski , who won gold at 14 in the 1997 World Championships, was grandfathered in by the rule, allowing her to become the youngest women's Olympic gold medalist in 1998 at 15. Lipinski, by the way, was elected this month to the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame.

MISCELLANY: The IOC intends to perform nearly double the number of doping tests for the Turin Games. The plan calls for 1,200 tests (45 percent more than the number conducted in 2002). ... Long-track speed skaters have been competing this weekend at a World Cup event in Milwaukee. If you missed the results from last week's World Cup in Salt Lake, three-time all-around champ Shani Davis continued his tuneup for Turin by setting a world record in the 1,000 meters. He clocked 1:07.03 in the final pair of the day, beating the mark of 1:07:08 set in 2002 by Gerald van Velde of the Netherlands. Miami's Jennifer Rodriguez won three medals, with a silver in the 1,000 meters. ... The Olympic torch relay that begins Dec.8 features an unusual itinerary: The 64-day, 7,020-mile route through each province of Italy includes a sail on gondolas in Venice, a trip over the Alps on horseback and an excursion in a Ferrari through the sports car factory.

[Last modified November 27, 2005, 01:19:10]