Germany's Lange wins 4th Olympic bobsleigh gold

Last Updated: Sunday, February 21, 2010 | 11:57 PM ET

Dan Robson, CBC Sports

Germany's Andre Lange, right, and Kevin Kuske won Olympic gold in the two-man bobsleigh competition at the Whistler Sliding Centre on Sunday. (Michael Sohn/Associated Press)

Germany's Andre Lange and Kevin Kuske became the most successful athletes in Olympic bobsleigh history Sunday night.

The duo won their fourth Olympic gold medal after posting a combined time of three minutes 26.65 seconds in four runs at the Whistler Sliding Centre.

Lange was the Olympic champion in the four-man in 2002, and continued his gold streak in the two-man and four-man events in 2006. The six-foot-five-inch, 255-pound Kuske, was the brakeman for each of those teams.

On Sunday, Germany's Thomas Florschuetz and Richard Adjei won the silver medal with a cumulative time of 3:26.87.

Russia's Alexsandr Zubkov and Alexey Voevoda claimed the bronze in 3:27.51.

"I did my very best and the gold medals came," Lange said through an interpreter. "When I started bobsleigh 17 years ago, I never thought about such victories. If you had told me I would win four gold medals, I would say you are stupid."

Lueders misses podium

Sitting sixth after three runs, Canada's Pierre Lueders, making his fifth and likely final Olympic appearance, had an outside chance of reaching the podium.

The veteran pilot and his brakeman, Jesse Lumsden of the CFL's Edmonton Eskimos, finished strong with a final run of 51.94 seconds.

Lueders and Lumsden's combined time of 3:27.87 put them in fifth place, just three-10ths of a second off the bronze-medal mark set by the Russians.

It was a respectable finish for Lueders, the most celebrated bobsleigh athlete in Canada. The Edmonton native was a silver medallist in 2006 and the Olympic champion in 1998.

"I'm happy with the performance. We did everything we could. There's no regrets of, 'I should have done this, I should have done that,"' said Lueders.

Rush finishes strong

Canada's Lyndon Rush raced remarkably well in his third and fourth runs after a devastating crash on Saturday put him and brakeman Lascelles Brown out of podium contention.

The duo tipped coming out of Turn 13 and overturned during their second run.

Rush, whose steering mistake on Turn 11 triggered the crash, said he let down his brakeman.

"[Brown] pushed like a champion," said Rush. "He deserves better than that. I really let him down."

Three other sleds — from Liechtenstein, Great Britain and Australia — tipped over on Saturday.

Brown received ice burns on his shoulders in Saturday's crash. He did not race on Sunday, making sure he was ready for the four-man event, which begins on Friday.

Rush finished his third and fourth runs with David Bisset, a member of the four-man team, as his brakeman. The duo raced well, posting a combined time of 3:30.46 to finish in 15th place.