SOCHI, Russia -- Northeastern's Steve Langton won his second bronze medal of the 2014 Olympics as the U.S. four-man bobsled team placed third on Sunday at the Sanki Sliding Center.
The quartet of Langton, Steven Holcomb, Christopher Fogt and Nebraska's Curtis Tomasevicz posted a time of 3:40.99 during the course of four heats to claim a spot on the podium with Russia (gold) and Latvia (silver).
The result gave Team USA a medal in both the two-man and four-man competitions for the first time since the 1952 Olympics in Oslo, Norway. The two-man bobsled, featuring Langton and Holcomb, also took bronze in Monday's competition.The Americans entered Sunday's final two heats out of medal position in fourth place. Team USA was able to make up ground, however, thanks in large part to a 4.78-second push start in the third heat, the fastest time of the run.
A nail-biting finish ensued as the Russia-2 sled posted the fastest time of the fourth heat (55.21) to threaten the United States' medal position. But another terrific push start (4.78) helped the US-1 sled stay in medal position with a run of 55.33. The Latvia-1 team (Oskars Melbardis, Daumants Dreiskens, Arvis Vilkaste and Janis Strenga) then maintained its second-place standing with a 55.31, before the Russia-1 squad (Alexander Zubkov, Alexey Voevoda, Dmitry Trunenkov and Alexey Negodaylo) posted a 55.39 to claim the top spot on the podium.
Langton's finish brings Northeastern's medal count to five (one silver, four bronze) at the Sochi Olympics. Kendall Coyne took silver with the U.S. women's hockey team and Florence Schelling and Julia Marty each won bronze with the Swiss women's hockey team.
