Hunter Church at yesterday's four-man bobsled race in Winterberg.

Photo credit: IBSF / Viesturs Lacis

WINTERBERG, Germany (December 12, 2021) – Hunter Church (Cadyville, N.Y.) and his crew of Josh Williamson (Lake Mary, Fla.), Carlo Valdes (Newport Beach, Calif.) and Charlie Volker (Fair Haven, N.J.) led the U.S. team with an 11th place finish in today’s four-man bobsled World Cup race in Winterberg. Codie Bascue (Whitehall, N.Y.), Blaine McConnell (Tacoma, Wash.), Jimmy Reed (Garmisch, Germany) and Hakeem Abdul Saboor (Powhatan, Va.) finished 21st.

Church and his crew of Williamson, Valdes and Volker posted impressive start times today of 5.10 and 5.08 seconds, which were sixth and fourth fastest of the field, respectively. Church put together runs of 55.23 seconds and 54.98 seconds for a combined time of 1:50.21. The Americans tied Latvians Oskars Kibermanis, Davis Springis, Lauris Kaufmanis and Edgars Nemme for 11th place.

Bascue, McConnell, Reed and Abdul Saboor had the 21st ranked push time of 5.16 seconds and the 21st downtime of 55.39 seconds. The crew missed the top-20 cutoff for the second heat by just 0.06 seconds.

Germany’s Francesco Friedrich was on top of the podium again today. He teamed with Thorsten Margis, Candy Bauer and Alexander Schueller for a combined time of 1:49.38 for the win. Brad Hall, Taylor Lawrence, Nick Gleeson and Greg Cackett from Britain were second with a two-run total of 1:49.68. Austrians Benjamin Maier, Sascha Stepan, Markus Sammer and Kristian Huber claimed bronze with a cumulative time of 1:49.74.

The World Cup tour will return to Altenberg, Germany for its fifth stop of the series before the holiday break.

For media inquiries, please contact USABS Marketing and Communications Director Amanda Bird at amanda.bird@usabs.com.

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Results

1. Friedrich, Margis, Bauer and Schueller (GER) 1:49.38 (54.74, 54.64);

2. Hall, Lawrence, Gleeson and Cackett (GBR) 1:49.68 (54.86, 54.82);

3. Maier, Stepan, Sammer and Huber (AUT) 1:49.74 (54.88, 54.86);

T-11. Church, Williamson, Valdes and Volker (USA) 1:50.21 (55.23, 54.98);

21. Bascue, McConnell, Reed and Abdul Saboor (USA) (55.39, DNS);

About USA Bobsled/Skeleton

USA Bobsled/Skeleton (USABS), based in Lake Placid, N.Y., is the national governing body for the sports of bobsled and skeleton in the United States. For more information, please visit the USABS website at www.usabs.com. Individuals interested in becoming a bobsled or skeleton athlete can visit www.usabobsledskeleton.com.

Church, Williamson, Valdes and Volker top American sled in Winterberg’s second four-man bobsled World Cup

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