Things go downhill for Canadian bobsledder after wardrobe malfunction

Canadian bobsledder Chris Spring thought his pre-race wardrobe malfunction was pretty funny, but it may have turned out to be a portent of things to come.

Here's what the Aussie-turned-Canadian competitor posted on his Twitter account prior to Sunday's two-man bobsled runs:

The first thing you'll note is that Spring doesn't quite come up to the standard Olympic athlete physique. He's more a double-double and doughnut guy than rice cakes and protein bars, which may explain why his suit split right at belly level.

The second is that, in spite of all, he's having a good time in Sochi.

Well, at least he was until he started sliding on Sunday. After finding a new suit, he and brakeman Jesse Lumsden put in two disappointing runs on the first day of competition and stand eighth heading into to Monday's final two runs. They had good starts in both runs, but ran into trouble on the corners in registering a time of 1:53.43, which puts them 0.25 seconds out of the bronze medal spot.

That's barely a blink of an eye, but in bobsleigh it's an eternity.

Though it wasn't a great day for Spring and Lumsden, it was for Canadian teammates Justin Kripps and brakeman Bryan Barnett. The least experienced of Canada's three teams that qualified for Sochi are in fourth place, posting a combined time of 1:53.26 -- only .08 seconds behind the third-place American team of Steven Holcomb and Steven Langton.

Kripps and Barnett appear to be peaking at the right time. They headed into the Olympics on the heels of their first World Cup victory last month in the last event before Sochi. Canadians are pearking at an opportune time. On Sunday, they came up with a terrific second run to move up two spots in the standings, while Canada's other two sleds put in so-so second runs.

Russians Alexander Zubkov and Alexey Voevoda lead the event, with Beat Hefti and Alex Baumann of Switzerland 0.32 seconds behind.

Lyndon Rush and Lascelles Brown, are in ninth and well out of medal contention.