ALTENBERG, Germany - Two-time Olympic champion Andre Lange has won a four-man bobsled World Cup race in his final appearance on his home track in Germany, adding to his previous victory in the two-man event on the track.
Lange and his team - Rene Hoppe, Kevin Kuske and Martin Putze - finished 0.76 seconds ahead of the United States' Steven Holcomb on Sunday. The American had driven to victory in the three previous World Cup four-man races and leads the standings.
Canada's Lyndon Rush of Humboldt, Sask., and Calgary's Chris Le Bihan, Dan Humphries and Lascelles Brown finished fourth, 1.12 seconds behind Lange.
"We finally had a breakthrough here and I am happy because this is a very special track," said Rush. "I think as a team we are gaining more confidence each race, but I'm really not trying to think about results. My goal is always strong pushes and a good driving. I still have a long way to go and lots to learn because Lange beat me by more than one second today."
Rush and his crew had an unexpected surprise after crossing the finish line during his second run on the challenging Altenberg track when he flipped his Canada 1 sled in the slow down corner.
"The ice was so fast because it was so cold and I couldn't correct it going into that corner. Next thing I knew I was on my head," said Rush, who added a number of other drivers also found themselves on their sides at the four-man finish.
"I almost had a heart attack in there because all I could think of is I better not have hurt my guys. Thankfully we were all fine."
Holcomb was joined by his reigning world championship team of Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler and Curt Tomasevicz. Holcomb bounced back from a crash in Saturday's two-man race.
Russia's Evgeny Popov - with Denis Moiseychenkov, Andrey Yurkov and Alexey Kireev - was third for his first podium finish since February 2007.
