- ReutersJamaica 1 containing driver Winston Alexander Watt and Lascelles Oneil Brown compete in heat one of the two-man bobsleigh event at the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Olympic Games yesterday.
Elton Tucker,Assistant Sport Editor
Salt Lake City, Utah:
JAMAICA'S bobsleighers had a disappointing first run on the opening day of the two-man event at the Utah Olympic Park last night.
Sent way down the starting order at 36th of 38 teams the Jamaican duo, pilot Winston Watt and brakesman Lascelles Brown, finished in 48.59 seconds to be ranked 27th of the 37 starters.
They started well in 4.84 seconds, just two-hundredths of a second off the top time, and were 10th overall at the first turn. Things, however, got progressively worse down the 1,335m course and the Jamaicans were left 1.07 seconds behind the leaders.
The Swiss No. 1 team, Christian Reich and Steve Anderhub, clocked a track record 47.52 with Germany's Christoph Langen and Markus Zimmermann, two-hundredths of a second behind. The second Swiss team, Martin Annen and Beat Hefti were third with 47.56. Annen and Hefti clocked 4.82 seconds for the best overall start time.
Trinidad and Tobago's Gregory Sun and Andrew McNedilly, who went off just after the Jamaican team, were in 35th spot with a 49.74 clocking. Another Caribbean team, Puerto Rico, did not start.
The second and final run was scheduled for later last night with the final two runs this evening. The Jamaican team here is hoping to break into the top ten and better the 14th place finish they had in the four-man event in Lillehammer in 1994.
The Swiss and Germans are the gold medal favourites along with the American No. 1 team of Todd Hayes and Garrett Hines. Hayes and Hines are in fifth spot going in the second run.
