Jamaican bobsledders tied for 17th at Europe Cup
Jamaica’s team of Matthew Wekpe and Shanwayne Stephens ended with a tie for 17th in the two-man bobsled at Thursday’s Europe Cup series event in Innsbruck, Austria.
The Jamaican team tied with the Japanese team of Ryo Shinohara and Kenji Murakami with a combined time of 1.45.80, 1.35 seconds off the winning time of 1:44.45 set by the German team of Richard Oelsner and Georg Fleischhauer.
The Jamaican men, who are trying to hold on to an Olympic Games qualifying spot in the event, had clocked 52.76 seconds for the first run which was good for 16th overall and then clocked 53.04 seconds for the second run.
Only the top 20 teams of the 40 that took part got a second run.
The Jamaicans are clinging to a qualifying spot as they are ranked 29th going in to Thursday’s race with 30 sleds set to qualify for the Winter Olympic Games which will start February 4 with the qualifying period ending on January 16.
— Paul Reid
