Spring confronts his crash demons
Chris Spring had to stop sliding on Jan. 5. Every Jan. 5. It didn’t matter which track the Canadian bobsled pilot was training on at the time; he took the day off. It wasn’t rational, and deep down he knew it, but it was a way of coping with the memory of the hellacious crash he and teammates Bill Thomas, Graeme Rinholm and Tim Randall endured on Jan. 5, 2012, during a training run in Altenberg, Germany.
At about 130 kph, Spring lost control and the sled hit the track’s wooden roof in corner 16. Spring suffered a broken nose and a massive puncture wound when a wooden shard sliced into his buttocks and hip. Thomas had bruised lungs, Rinholm a broken fibula. All but Randall, who was unhurt, spent days in area hospitals.
Spring, now 36, took all of last season off to finally and completely heal some lingering physical damage from that crash. As luck would have it, the scene of his return earlier this week, albeit on the Europe Cup rather than the World Cup, was Altenberg. He’d been back several times since the crash, but hadn’t slid there on the anniversary until this week, when he successfully completed a training run on that day.
In a pair of subsequent two- man races, he also won a bronze medal with brakeman Mark Mlakar and then a silver with Mike Evelyn in the sled. The four- man event, which will see Spring joined by Mlakar, Evelyn and Shaquille Murray-lawrence, goes Saturday.
“There’s a lot of emotions that surround this track and my history here,” Spring said Friday. “For a long time, and I wouldn’t say it’s gone away, but for a long time I battled with dealing with that crash and getting over it and trying to balance my thoughts, especially my rational thoughts with what’s going on in my mind.
“It’s just another day, why should it change anything? But it would just creep in. Each day as it approached it got a little harder and I could tell my runs would get a little worse. So eventually I decided I just wouldn’t slide that day, to make things easier for myself.
“I think I’ve gotten to a place now where I like to welcome in the fear that creeps in every now and again and try to use it as a way to remind myself that what we’re doing here is dangerous, but also what we’re doing is quite special. Just be grateful for where I am in my career and be grateful that there are still athletes who want to pursue their goals with me as a part of the team.”
There is an entire family of people who wanted to help him at Altenberg, beginning with retired German pilot Nico Walther, who reached out on social media after Spring announced his imminent return to the track.
“He said ‘ if you need any help, just text me and I’m more than happy to help you.’ So we got on a call together while I was in isolation in Ottawa prior to coming over. We went over the track. There has been a lot of texting back and forth. I’ve sent him video of my runs. He’d go through them and give me feedback,” said Spring.
“And even the coaches that are here, the German coaches, have been helping me out. It’s just another beautiful example of how great this sport is and the family that it creates. Even though I’m competing for another nation, everyone has been helping me to be the best pilot I can be and have the most success I can on this track.”
That list includes current German pilots Francesco Friedrich and Johannes Lochner, who were training at Altenberg when Spring and his team arrived last week.
“I managed to catch them at the bottom of their runs and say ‘ hello, how was your Christmas, blah, blah, blah’ and both of them also said if you have any questions, send me a text. Very open and welcoming, willing to help me as much as they can. I’m just really thankful there are people like this in the sport and it goes both ways. I have no problem saying I have helped out many other opponents, my direct competition. The way I look at it, if I can’t beat the best with them having the same knowledge I have, am I really the best?”
He’ll be back at Altenberg next month for the world championships, and despite his long history of middling to poor World Cup results and the crash there, he’s in a positive frame of mind after the developments of this week.
“I got a text from ( former teammate) Jesse Lumsden, congratulating me on the results. I said ‘can you believe it? I think I’m finally getting it, nine years later. I guess I’m a bit of a slow learner.”