Steven Holcomb followed his first World Cup win in Europe in four years with a second-place finish in a four-man race in Igls, Austria, on Sunday.
Holcomb, the 2010 Olympic four-man champion, finished second to Latvian Oskars Melbardis. Holcomb led after the first run, but Melbardis passed him with the fastest time of the day in the second run.
“Things are starting to come together,” Holcomb said. “Been testing some stuff over the past few weeks to see if we can get faster. I think we’re starting to learn a lot, we’re really going to make this thing fly.”
The U.S. Olympic Team will be announced later Sunday and will include two four-man sleds. Holcomb will almost surely be one of them. The other was a tough call going into Sunday.
But Nick Cunningham finished fourth in Igls, his best career result in Europe. The other driver in the running, Cory Butner, was 18th. Butner is still likely to be a two-man driver for the U.S. in Sochi.
Igls Four-Man
1. Oskars Melbardis (LAT) 1:42.22
2. Steven Holcomb (USA) 1:42.33
3. Thomas Florschuetz (GER) 1:42.43
4. Nick Cunningham (USA) 1:42.50
18. Cory Butner (USA) 1:43.08
