In a sport where the smallest mistake can cost you hundredths of seconds and a spot on the podium, Humboldt native Lyndon Rush and brakeman Lascelles Brown's fourth-place finish at the World Cup two-man bobsleigh race in Altenberg, Germany pushed Rush - Canada's top pilot - into the number one position in the World Cup standings.
The Humboldt native was quoted as saying he was a bit surprised to find himself leading the pack considering he and Brown crashed earlier in the season at Park City, Utah. The miscue saw the pair finish 20th.
In the World Cup opener just one week earlier in Lake Placid, New York, Rush and brakeman Jesse Lumsden broke the top 10, finishing seventh - good enough for 168 World Cup points. With only 68 points from the Park City race, Rush was headed back to Canada set on redeeming his less-than-stellar start to the 2012-13 season.
With Rush at the helm and Brown in the brakeman's seat, the pair successfully slid to a silver medal at Whistler, B.C., earning another 210 points.
The Canadian teams travelled across the pond for Cup races number four and five held in Winterberg, Germany and La Plagne, France respectively.
This time, the combination of Rush and Lumsden added a pair of medals, a bronze and a gold completing their medal set and more importantly, securing another 210 and 200 race points respectively for the Canadian pilot.
After a brief Christmas break in the race schedule, Rush, re-teamed with Brown for the sixth cup race, recorded times of 57.30 and 57.55 seconds for a total time of 1:54.85s -- 0.70s behind a pair of German teams who tied for gold with a time of 1:54.15s and 0.61s behind the third-place German team who clocked in at 1:54.76s.
According to the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation website, in the two-man bobsleigh, Rush holds a four-point lead over American Steven Holcomb, who did not race in Altenberg and a 15-point lead over third place German Manuel Machata.
There are two more World Cup races in Konigssee, Germany and Innsbruck, Austria before the World Championships slated for St. Moritz, Switzerland at the beginning of February. The final World Cup race takes place in Sochi, Russia, home to the 2014 Winter Olympics.
