USA bobsled athletes earn 13 medals in Park City North American Cup

Bobsled international travel crates sit on the sidelines at the Utah Olympic Park while their contents race down the track. Photo: Michele Roepke

PARK CITY, Utah — USA Bobsled (USABS) athletes claimed 13 medals in eight races at the Park City North American Cup from November 23-29.

Bobsled pilots Frank Del Duca (Bethel, Me.) and Brittany Reinbolt (Searcy, Ark.) led the count with four medals each in their respective disciplines. Del Duca swept the two-person races and won gold and silver medals in the four-man races. Reinbolt swept the two-woman competitions and earned double silver in monobob. Nicole Vogt (Dallas, Texas) took bronze in one of the monobob races and two silver medals in the two-woman competitions, while Tyler Hickey (Geneva, Ill.) claimed double bronze medals in the four-person races.

Alysia Rissling from Canada had the fastest runs in both of the women’s monobob races on November 23 and 24, winning double gold with combined times of 1:43.60 and 1:44.42. On both days, Reinbolt was the closest competitor, securing double silver medals with total times of 1:44.26 and 1:45.95. Vogt claimed bronze in the first race with an aggregate time of 1:44.69, while Canadian Bianca Ribi claimed bronze on day two with a two-run total of 1:46.05. Vogt finished just 0.02 seconds from the medals in fourth place on day two.

“In monobob, you have to be very precise with the steers, so I think that’s actually helping make me a better two-man pilot,” Reinbolt said to USABS.

Reinbolt teamed with veteran Nicole Brungardt (Norfolk, Neb.) to sweep the two-woman bobsled races. The pair powered off the block with the second-fastest start times of 5.50 and 5.48 seconds in the first race, and Reinbolt navigated to the finish with a total time of 1:40.79 after posting the fastest downtimes of the competition. Vogt and Emily Renna (Fairport, N.Y.) were just behind their teammates in silver medal position with a combined time of 1:41.11. Rissling teamed with Eden Wilson to claim bronze in 1:41.44.

“Nicole was the first pilot ever to take me down in a bobsled, so to be able to race with her in an international competition is pretty awesome,” Renna wrote on Facebook.

The second two-woman race echoed the first, with Reinbolt and Brungardt winning with the fastest downtimes in both heats for a total time of 1:40.78. Vogt and Renna earned silver again, this time with a two-run total of 1:41.13, followed by Rissling and Wilson in third with a 1:41.34.

“It was awesome racing with Nicole Brungardt,” Reinbolt said. “It was also nice to be able to wrap up some wins on the track that I learned to drive at and that I have so many good memories on. But this is all just one step towards a larger, and near impossible, goal.”

“Team USA took care of business, both men and women, veterans and rookies,” Brungardt said to USABS. “It’s always a good time sliding on our home track and hearing our national anthem play. We are excited for Lake Placid.”

Rookie pilot Riley Compton (Oceanside, Calif.) teamed with Jasmine Jones (Greensburg, Pa.) for sixth place on both days. Lauren Brzozowski (Wyckoff, N.J.), also an emerging pilot, finished seventh with Michelle Szlauko (Oak Hills, Calif.) yesterday and seventh with Rylie Matthews (Ogden, Utah) today.

Del Duca was a force to be reckoned with in the men’s bobsled races. Crates were delayed arriving at Park City from Whistler, Canada, due to recent flooding in the area, so the two-person races were postponed. When trucks did arrive, both two-person races were held on one day, November 27th.

“The sleds were stuck in Whistler due to the terrible flooding in B.C.,” Del Duca said to USABS. “It’s a very sad situation, and we are hoping that the area/people affected heal and recover.

” There were three trucks tasked with moving our crates from Whistler to Park City,” Del Duca continued. “Our sleds were on the last truck, so we didn’t get our equipment until just recently. As a result, we missed all of the paid training. It wasn’t stressful for us; we remained focused on what we needed to do. We knew we were going to race eventually, whether it was here or not. So we recovered from six Whistler race days as best we could and then got some sprinting and lifting in to prepare for any potential races. In the end, we maintained our competitive starts and got two wins.”

Del Duca teamed with Boone Niederhofer (San Antonio, Texas) in the first race for the fastest start time of 5.00 seconds, and Del Duca threaded together the quickest runs to win with a combined time of 1:37.92. Youngjin Suk and Taeyang Kim from Korea claimed silver in 1:38.14, and Canadians Taylor Austin with Daniel Sunderland earned bronze in 1:38.17.

Geoff Gadbois (Milton, Vt.) and track standout Manteo Mitchell (Shelby, Neb.) teamed together for fourth place with a two-run total of 1:38.51, while Tyler Hickey (Geneva, Ill.) and Martin Christofferson (Rapid City, SD) finished fifth. Newcomers Tanner Grzesiek (Monument, Colo.) and Timothy Lukas (Mount Prospect, Ill.) were 16th.

Del Duca teamed with Adrian Adams (Reidsville, NC) in the first run of the second two-person bobsled race for the fastest downtime of the heat, but a minor injury kept Adams from competing in run two. Kyle Wilcox (Tampa, Fla.) stepped in and pushed Del Duca to the fastest start time of 4.97 seconds. Del Duca again posted the fastest downtime for a combined time of 1:37.96 for the win.

“Our last push separated us at the start a bit,” Del Duca said. “I’d like to mention how big of a role Kyle Wilcox played. He filled in for the second run of the second race and performed extremely well. I’m just grateful for the team we have and the approach we take to competition together.”

Austin and Chris Patrician claimed silver for Canada with a two-run total of 1:38.29, followed by Suk and Chae Byungdo from Korea in third with a 1:38.62. Gadbois and Chris Avery (San Diego, Calif.) were just off the podium in fourth, while Hickey and Bryce Cheek (Lewis Center, Ohio) were behind their teammates in fifth. Derek White (Oxford, Miss.) teamed with David Simon (West Melbourne, Fla.) for 11th.

Del Duca claimed his third gold medal of the event yesterday in the first four-man bobsled competition. He teamed up with Wilcox, Adams, and Niederhofer to post the fastest start time of the competition of 4.94 seconds. Del Duca drove the team into gold medal position with the fastest runs of 48.33 and 48.44 seconds for a total time of 1:36.77.

Austin teamed with Patrician, Sunderland, and Shaq Murray-Lawrence for silver in 1:36.88. Hickey and his crew of Avery, Mitchell, and Christofferson secured the bronze medal with a two-run total of 1:37.03. The crew also had the second-fastest push time of 4.96 seconds. Gadbois, Matthew Beach (Tacoma, Wash.), Joshua Burrell (Missouri City, Texas), and Chris Walsh (Pittsboro, N.C.) were disqualified.

Team Canada was victorious in the last competition of the Park City event. Austin and his crew won by a narrow margin over the Americans with a combined time of 1:36.89. Del Duca, Wilcox, Niederhofer, and Christofferson posted the quickest start time of 4.92 and claimed silver with a two-run total of 1:37.03. Hickey, Simon, Avery, and Mitchell took bronze in 1:37.18. Gadbois, Beach, Cheek, and Walsh raced again today, finishing sixth with a cumulative time of 1:37.96.

“I’m proud of our guys for their commitment, and we’re looking forward to finishing up the North American Cup in Lake Placid,” Del Duca said.

The North American Cup tour will make its third and final stop on home ice in Lake Placid, N.Y., from December 8-20.