American Napier wins gold, German women finish 1-2 at World Cup bobsled

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. - John Napier practically grew up on the bobsled track at Mount Van Hoevenberg. For one day, he owned it.

While his mom, Betsy, rang her giant golden cowbell, the 22-year-old Napier slid the race of his dreams on Saturday, beating U.S. teammate Steven Holcomb to win a World Cup two-man race on his home track at Lake Placid.

Napier and brakeman Charles Berkeley defeated Holcomb and brakeman Justin Olsen by 0.26 seconds with a combined two-run time of one minute 53.62 seconds.

It was the first podium finish for Napier, who is competing for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. That it came on the same mountain where his late father Bill, former president of the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, once competed made it more special.

"To have a win at my home track is just awesome," said Napier, who first saw the track (it was rebuilt in 2000) when his mom tucked him under her coat and walked it when he was two weeks old. "I was actually up in the old 1980 start house, and I was thinking of how ironic it was that 30 years ago (my father) was in there warming up. There's kind of a little bit of irony there. I hope I served my father's legacy well."

Ivo Ruegg and Roman Handschin of Switzerland were third, while the Edmonton duo of Pierre Lueders and brakeman David Bissett finished fourth.

"We made a few mistakes at the top on both runs that cost us some valuable time. I was able to make some of that up down the track but not enough," said Lueders, who is a four-time Olympian and winner of 88 World Cup medals. "Dave pushed really well and it was a definite improvement on last week and that is what it is all about."

Lyndon Rush of Humboldt, Sask., and Lascelles Brown of Calgary finished seventh.

In the women's race, the Germans dominated as Cathleen Martini and Sandra Kiriasis finished 1-2 for the second straight World Cup event and teammate Claudia Schramm barely missed the podium, finishing fourth to Calgary's Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse of Summerside, P.E.I., by 0.01.

"Today was a great day and everything came together very well," said Humphries, who clocked times of 58.67 and 58.65. "Obviously there were several mistakes that I made out there so there is always room for improvement, but our starts were great today so I'm happy."

It was a somewhat disappointing day for the U.S. team. Shauna Rohbock and Elana Meyers were the top U.S. finishers in fifth, though they were just 0.07 behind the Canadians. Erin Pac and Michelle Rzepka finished seventh, and Bree Schaaf and Emily Azevedo tied the Swiss sled of Sabina Hafner and Marina Gilardoni for ninth.

"Yeah, it's annoying," Rohbock said of the Germans' performance. "But they can be 1-2 now. We'll take 1-2 at the end."

Bill Napier died in June 2005 of kidney cancer, but not before skipping a cancer treatment to watch his son compete here in his first World Cup event.

Betsy Napier, a former bobsledder, tried to mask her emotions.

"I was nervous, but I don't control the track, the weather, the way the guys feel, so I have to go with it," she said. "I'm just glad he did it here on his home track. I met my husband here at the track."

Napier built a slim 0.15-second lead over the Swiss team on the first trip down the 20-curve track, with Holcomb another 0.16 behind. Napier said he won because he was in the mix at the start, posting the eighth-and fifth-fastest times at the top.

"I've never been this close at the start," he said. "And I think it proves what I can do at the bottom when I have great push starts."