Vegas’ Weinstock finishes 14th in Olympic two-man bobsled
Las Vegan Evan Weinstock and Justin Olsen finished 14th in the two-man bobsled event Monday at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. They had sat in 12th place after their first two runs.
Weinstock and Olsen were the top American team in the event. The Canadian team of Justin Kripps and Alexander Kopacz and the German team of Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis tied for the gold medal. Latvians Oskars Melbardis and Janis Strenga won bronze.
“Evan and I knew we only have three years of experience coming into the games against some really good pilots and experienced people,” Olsen told USA Bobsled & Skeleton. “We just knew that we would have to be really perfect if we were going to have a chance, and were we perfect? No.”
The fact that the pair were able to compete together was an accomplishment, as Olsen had an emergency appendectomy two weeks ago.
“It seems like this whole season we’ve had a lot of setbacks,” Weinstock told The Associated Press. “I just know his mentality, and I know howtoughhe is, and I knew hewouldn’t letthisbea setback for bothofus.i was confident in his ability to get back as close as he could to 100 percent, and I think he’s right there.”
Weinstock, who attended Del Sol High School, also will compete in the fourman competition, which begins Saturday. Codie Bascue will pilot that team with Weinstock, Steve Langton andsammcguffieasthe push crew.
Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal. com. Follow @Betsyhelfand on Twitter.