Holcomb wins 6th race as U.S. team sweeps bobsled spots

The U.S. bobsled team went nearly 13 years without sweeping all three medal spots in a World Cup race.

It's now happened twice in eight days.

With even the head of the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation calling it "kind of surreal," the Americans extended their ridiculous start to this Olympic season Saturday, when Steven Holcomb added to his undefeated start by driving to yet another win in Lake Placid, N.Y., and leading the first U.S. sweep of a World Cup two-man race.

Holcomb and Chris Fogt finished two runs in 1 minute, 50.19 seconds at Mount Van Hoevenberg. Nick Cunningham and Johnny Quinn were second in 1:50.74, and Cory Butner and Chuck Berkeley were third in 1:50.85 — capping off a sweep that came on the heels of the U.S. women winning a gold and tying for silver at a World Cup race in Park City, Utah, last weekend.

"Sometimes, things just come together when they need to," USBSF CEO Darrin Steele said. "It's kind of surreal."

Holcomb has now won all six World Cup men's bobsled races this season, four of them coming in two-man. He extended his lead in the World Cup two-man standings to 136 points over Cunningham.

Of the 1-2-3 U.S. finish, Holcomb said, "That's huge."

Dumont hit his head on the halfpipe and endured a concussion. He was conscious, but trainers did not clear him to compete.

Yater-Wallace sustained a chest injury and was taken to the hospital to be evaluated.

The 27-year-old Dumont has two gold, two silver and three bronze medals at the Winter X Games and was considered an elder statesman of his sport, which makes its Olympic debut this year.

Yater-Wallace, 18, has two X-Games silvers and a bronze. He spent nearly a week in the hospital earlier this month with a collapsed lung.

Yater-Wallace was back on the halfpipe Friday, where he finished first in qualifying. Dumont finished seventh.

Zoeggeler finished two runs in 1 minute, 30.599 seconds. Mazdzer won a silver medal for the second straight week, finishing 0.240 seconds behind Zoeggeler. Wolfgang Kindl of Austria took third, 0.084 seconds back.

Mazdzer is the top U.S. racer in the standings, currently fifth in the points chase. Tucker West finished 16th for the United States, with Taylor Morris 20th and Joe Mortensen placing 27th. Aidan Kelly did not finish his first run.

• West, 18, became the youngest male slider to qualify for a U.S. Olympic luge team, after he and Kelly joined Mazdzer, securing the final two spots on the 10-person men's singles team.

Tina Maze of Slovenia skied out and the United States speed team failed to challenge seriously as Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein won a super-G in near-ideal conditions in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Maze, who won the 2013 overall title, and the U.S. team have collectively failed to reach the podium in six speed races. "No one is panicking," U.S. head coach Alex Hoedlmoser said.

For the first time in nearly five years, Ted Ligety didn't reach the final of a World Cup giant slalom race.

"Just a little bit bad luck on my part," he said. Ligety and Miller had finished 1-2 last weekend in Beaver Creek, Colo. Both will take part in the slalom Sunday.

Olympic champion Hannah Kearney of the United States and world champion Mikael Kingsbury of Canada won the season-opening World Cup moguls in Kuusamo, Finland.

Kearney, also the world champion, scored 25.07 points to beat Justine Dufour-Lapointe of Canada by 1.17. Aiko Uemura of Japan was third.

In the men's final, Kingsbury beat countryman Alex Bilodeau 26.93 to 26.54. Sho End of Japan was third.

Norway dominated the first Nordic combined World Cup team sprint of the season, claiming the top two spots ahead of Italy in Ramsau Am Dachstein, Austria.