Rüegg springs bob surprise
The Swiss two-man bobsleigh championships were supposed to be a contest between hot favourites Martin Annen, Reto Götschi and Christian Reich - but Ivo Rüegg had other ideas.
The 31-year-old from canton Schwyz pulled off an amazing second run in St Moritz to end Saturday’s national contest ahead of the country’s bigger names.
Accompanied by brakeman Stefan Bamert, Rüegg came back from a fourth-placed finish in the first run to clinch his first ever Swiss title. In the sort of tight finish typical for bobsleigh, Rüegg and Bamert edged out Annen by just four hundredths of a second.
Götschi, who has won the last nine two-man Swiss titles, had to settle for a rare third place on Saturday and still faces a nervous wait for a possible place at next month’s Winter Olympics.
World Cup driver Christian Reich, who is expected to make it to Salt Lake City, had an even worse day than Götschi, finishing in fifth place immediately behind Ralph Rüegg, cousin of the winning driver.
Swiss bobsleigh championships leading results:
Two man bobsleigh (St Moritz): 1. Ivo Rüegg/Stefan Bamert 128.58 seconds. 2 Martin Annen/Beat Heft +0.04. 3. Reto Götschi/Thomas Keller +0.08. 4. Ralph Rüegg/Andi Gees +0.26. 5. Christian Reich/Guido Acklin +0.43. 6. Fredi
Steinmann/Cédric Grand +0.83. 7. Rico Ammann/Reto Schläpfer +1.81. 8. Marcel Rohner/Sascha Heyer +1,94. 9. Reto Rüegg/Hubert Schwyter 1.99. 10. Adrian Gaberthüel/Severin Wälchli 2.07.
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