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Bobsleigh at the 1998 Nagano Winter Games:

Men's Two



Host City: Nagano, Japan
Venue(s): The Spiral, Asakawa, Nagano
Date Started: February 14, 1998
Date Finished: February 15, 1998
Format: Four runs, total time determined placement.

Gold: CAN Canada-1
ITA Italy-1
Bronze: GER Germany-1


Christoph Langen of Germany had, with various partners, won three successive world titles between 1993 and 1996 but had missed a medal in 1997 in St. Moritz. The reigning world champions were the Swiss team of Reto Götschi and Guido Acklin but there was no shortage of possible title challengers. Canadian Pierre Leuders and Günther Huber of Italy had impressed over the World Cup season and both American and Latvian crews had high hopes.

The pattern for the competition was set in the first run with Italy and Canada jostling for the gold medal position. This continued for the next two runs and at the start of the final run Canada were just three hundredths of a second behind their Italian rivals. Pierre Leuders’ final run was slightly faster than Günther Huber’s and when the clock stopped at the finish line he had made up exactly that deficit and no more. This was not the first time that two crews had dead-heated for first place in Olympic competition but the tie-breaker rule which had decided the winners of the 1968 two man event had been abandoned by 1998 and the two crews shared the gold medal.

Final Standings

Rank Team NOC Medal T
1T Italy-1 ITA Gold 3:37.24
1T Canada-1 CAN Gold 3:37.24
3 Germany-1 GER Bronze 3:37.89
4 Switzerland-2 SUI 3:38.15
5 Latvia-1 LAT 3:38.24
6 Switzerland-1 SUI 3:38.27
7 United States-2 USA 3:38.53
8 Czech Republic-2 CZE 3:38.59
9 France-1 FRA 3:38.62
10 United States-1 USA 3:38.75
11 Germany-2 GER 3:38.88
12 Canada-2 CAN 3:38.98
13 France-2 FRA 3:39.31
14 Italy-2 ITA 3:39.61
15 Great Britain-1 GBR 3:39.94
16 Russia-1 RUS 3:40.31
17 Japan-1 JPN 3:40.71
18 Latvia-2 LAT 3:40.75
19 Japan-2 JPN 3:40.80
20 Great Britain-2 GBR 3:40.88
21 Russia-2 RUS 3:41.46
22 Australia AUS 3:41.60
23 Ukraine UKR 3:41.82
24 Monaco MON 3:43.54
25 Romania-1 ROU 3:43.66
26 Romania-2 ROU 3:43.73
27 Ireland-1 IRL 3:44.32
28 New Zealand NZL 3:44.66
29 Jamaica JAM 3:45.74
30 Greece GRE 3:46.57
31 Bosnia and Herzegovina BIH 3:46.61
32 Trinidad and Tobago TTO 3:46.65
33 United States Virgin Islands-1 ISV 3:47.20
34 Chinese Taipei TPE 3:47.34
35 Ireland-2 IRL 3:47.45
36 United States Virgin Islands-2 ISV 3:48.31
AC Puerto Rico PUR DQ
AC Czech Republic-1 CZE DNF
DNS Austria AUT