The world champion in four-man bobsleigh has shown its sledding prowess in Pyeongchang, Gangwon-do Province, the main host city for next year’s PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, just under a year away.

The Russian four-man bobsleigh team of Alexander Kasjanov, the pilot, Aleksei Pushkarev and Vasiliy Kondratenko, both pushmen, and Alexey Zaitsev, the brakeman, defended their championship title in the final race of the 2016-2017 season in the BMW International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) World Cup, at the Alpensia Sliding Center in Pyeongchang, Gangwon-do Province, on March 19.

The team came in first with a total time of 1:39.96 after two runs, clocking 49.99 seconds in the first run and 49.97 seconds in the second run. The team lost some time with a relatively sluggish start and then slid down the almost vertical ice surface on the track, driving up to 136.70 kilometers per hour. After two runs, the champions finished ahead of the runner-up Switzerland, led by Rico Peter, by a margin of 0.23 seconds.



“It’s my first race on this track and the track was quite challenging,” said the Russian pilot, Kasjanov, who finished the 2016-2017 World Cup as top in the world. “Curves No. 2 and the section spanning from curves No. 9 to 12 were the most difficult for me. My goal is to win a medal, hopefully, a gold one, in next year’s Olympic Winter Games here,” he said. “To this end, I'll keep working on my skills until then,” the athlete said, hoping that he would stand on the podium next year.



Team Korea of Won Yun-jong, the pilot, Kim Jin-su and Lee Gyeongmin, both pushmen, and Oh Jea-han, the brakeman, placed seventh in the final standings at 1:40.35. The team did 50.17 seconds in its first run and 50.18 seconds in its second. Korea finished in fifth place overall in the two-man bobsled a day before on March 18.

“Although we hadn’t been able to spend as much time on four-man sledding as on two-man, we did finish behind the world’s top sledders by only a narrow margin, which is good and hopeful,” said Yun, who steered the team. “I’m sure that there’s still room for us to advance to the upper ranks if we make up for our slow starts. We'll do our best to stand on the Olympic podium next year.”



By Sohn JiAe
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: Jeon Han Korea.net Photographer
jiae5853@Korea.kr