Canada pulls out of bobsled event
After Canadian pilot Chris Spring’s horrific crash during a training run on Thursday, Canada’s bobsled teams have pulled out of this weekend’s World Cup races at Altenberg, Germany.
With Spring and teammates Bill Thomas and Graeme Rinholm still hospitalized with various non-life threatening injuries, Canadian head coach Tom De La Hunty said Friday that he made the decision to pull his team because track and International Bobsleigh and Toboggan Federation (FIBT) officials didn’t do enough to make the track safer for athletes.
And he says it’s time for the FIBT to do more to make tracks safer. He believes his stance will be supported by other teams.
“Someone has to make a stand,” De La Hunty said Friday. “It’s a massive decision (to withdraw), but it’s one that has to be taken.
“This is just me making a point to the FIBT that they cannot continue to ride roughshod over coaches and expect people to slide on tracks that they know are dangerous.”
In a training run Spring, 27, lost control of his sled on corner 16 at Altenberg, considered by many to be the most challenging track in the world. His sled plowed into the wooden roof that covers the lip of the track and came into contact with steel girders that were placed behind the wood.
The sled’s front axle was torn off and the axle was dragged through the sled, cutting a swath through the Canadian crew.
Spring was airlifted to a hospital in Dresden. He is in stable condition with a broken nose, lacerations and bruising.
Bill Thomas, 26, of Burlington, Ont., was taken by ambulance to Dresden University Hospital. He’s recovering from a bruised lung and minor trauma.
Graeme Rinholm, 26, of Saskatoon, was taken by ambulance to Pirna Hospital near Altenberg. He has a broken fibula and lacerations to his upper legs, buttocks and underlying musculature. Toronto’s Tom Randall, 25, sustained minor injuries.
De La Hunty said he’d been told the problems would be fixed. He checked the course Friday morning. What he saw wasn’t reassuring.
“The FIBT said the track would be repaired for the following day to a very high standard and safe for sliding,” De La Hunty said. “I went to the course this morning to inspect it. The work was finished, but all they’d done was relined the steel girders with the wooden planks. It all looked very nice, but it was exactly the same as it had been the morning before. There was no change at all except some new shiny bits of wood.”
De La Hunty said the FIBT was “shocked” when he told them of his decision. He said he got support from some of the other coaches. He said he’s not fearful that Canada will be portrayed as weak.
“Quite the opposite,” he said. “I think we’ll be painted as a very strong team for the decision we made. I genuinely believe that. I know there are a lot of coaches (who) wish they had an opportunity to do what we’ve done, but they are duty bound by their teams. I can’t go into names. I spoke to four or five coaches who are very concerned about the four-man event coming up on Sunday.”
Canadian pilot Kaillie Humphries of Calgary and Canada 1 pilot Lyndon Rush of Humboldt, Sask., won’t race. Rush said he wanted to race, but understood his coach’s decision.