Germany wins, Canada 9th in World Cup bobsled

Germany swept the four-man podium at a World Cup bobsled event on Sunday.

Germany's 3's Manuel Machata, Florian Becke, Andreas Bredau and Christian Poser clocked a winning time of 1:57.00, with Germany 2 getting the silver and Germany 1 taking bronze.

Canada's Chris Spring slid to a ninth-place finish.

The 27-year-old Calgary-based rookie teamed up with Toronto's Tim Randall, Calgary's Derek Plug and Graeme Rinholm of Saskatoon, to clock a time of 1:57.63 in the crew's first visit to the Olympic Track near Albertville, France.

Spring, who started bobsleigh in 2007 while working on a visa from Australia, has had an impressive start in his first season on the elite circuit. Spring drove the Canada 2 sled to a sixth-place finish in the two-man race Saturday, and Sunday improved on last weekend's 10th-place result as the top sled in the four-man.

Olympic medallist Lyndon Rush, of Humboldt, Sask., and his crew of Jesse Lumsden, of Burlington, Ont., Ottawa's Cody Sorensen and Edmonton's Neville Wright, have struggled in the Canada 1 sled early in the season. Team Rush finished 11th at 1:57.71.