Silver and bronze for Swiss bobsleigh teams

The Switzerland 1 team of Christian Reich and Steve Anderhub pushed off hard to win silver Keystone

Switzerland claimed both the silver and bronze medals in the Olympic two-man bobsleigh event on Sunday.

Both of Switzerland’s bobsleigh teams capped a day of close racing at the Park City track – losing by just nine hundredths of a second to gold medallists Germany 1.

The crew of Switzerland 1 – piloted by Christian Reich and his brakeman Steve Anderhub – pushed the fancied German team to their limit over four races.

Reich relieved

An emotional Reich – competing in his fourth games – said afterwards a huge weight had lifted from his shoulders now that he had won a medal.

“This has been our big goal for five years and its nice to get there,” Reich said.

“We haven’t lost the gold, we won silver because it was a dream run. I don’t know where I would have earned those nine-hundredths. Anyone who studies [the form of German 1 pilot] Christoph Langen knows that.”

Close behind Reich was the Switzerland 2 team of Martin Annen (pilot) and brakeman Beat Hefti. They claimed bronze with an aggregate time of 3:10, 62, just 51 hundredths behind Reich and Anderhub.

The battle for gold saw Switzerland 1 and Germany 1 smash three course records.

Near flawless runs

After heading into the third round with a one hundredth of a second lead, Reich and Anderhub saw the Germans claw the difference back, as both teams made near flawless runs.

That meant both teams started their final and fourth run with exactly the same time – 2:22.50.

Olympic bobsleigh races are traditionally decided by tenths of a second, this year the difference was almost beyond the scope of measuring technology.

In the deciding final run, the German’s slipped ahead for gold, with a time of 47.61, just .09 seconds ahead of Switzerland 1.

Luck and disappointment

Hans Hiltebrand, the Swiss team boss said the difference between gold was always going to be near invisible.

To win, he said, a flawless start was essential, followed by a perfect run through the critical “labyrinth”, a tight passage in the top-third of the run, and a fast finish.

“It’s all up to the pilot to create the perfect run,” Hiltebrand said.

“Luck and disappointment are closely related,” he said.

The medal rush takes Switzerland’s Olympic medal-count to three golds, one silver and two bronze.

Jacob Greber and agencies