Russia's Zubkov snatches 4-man bobsled opener
Canadian sleds finish well back
Three-time World Cup champion Alexsandr Zubkov of Russia and his team won the first four-man bobsled World Cup race of the season on Sunday.
Zubkov, Philipp Egorov, Dmitry Trunenkov and Nikolay Hrenkov led after the first run and finished in an aggregate time of one minute 43.05 seconds to edge United States I by 0.06.
The American team of Steven Holcomb, Justin Olsen, Steven Langton and Curt Tomasevicz posted the fastest time in the second run.
Germany I with Thomas Florschuetz, Martin Rostig, Kevin Kuske and Thomas Blaschek trailed by 0.36 in third place.
Spring's Canada II has strong push, finishes 10th
Calgary's Chris Spring led Canada II to a 10th-place result and a cumulative time of 1:43.86 (52.12-51.74). His crew included Toronto's Tim Randall, Calgary's Derek Plug and Graeme Rinholm of Saskatoon.
"That is a fantastic result and a great achievement for these guys in their first four-man race," said Tom Delahunty, head coach of the Canadian bobsled teams. "The team pushed 5.10 which is right up there with the top sleds so I'm very proud of them."
Lyndon Rush, of Humboldt, Sask., and the Canada I sled struggled by comparison. Rush and his newly-formed crew of Jesse Lumsden of Burlington, Ont., Ottawa's Cody Sorensen and Edmonton's Neville Wright finished 13th with a total time of 1:43.94.
The bobsled World Cup continues in La Plagne, France, next week.