From Germany and Swiss, there are are absolute monsters out there…the 4 us guys seems visually a bit less than them…
I caan only provide some italians stats.
Our N.1 Brakeman can clean 172,5 kg a t 103 kg bw…(in the spare time, he did a 11"16 100m if I’m correct…), many can clean 140.
for squats. Hefti (swiss) has been seen to perform easy 250kg squat singles (deep) the day before the race in cortina some years ago
What is the reasoning behind the heavy squats the day before a World Cup event? I’ve heard some suggest that it creates tension in the muscle, I believe it was the Canadians who thought this. Perhaps as a potentiation method?
I would have to agree about the Germans and the Swiss, if I remember correctly from the last Olympics they looked so much more physically impressive than the other teams, including the US.
2 reasons:
- Potentiation pre race (as used by many throwrers)
- season is long, and you need to train!!every week in a different location., 5 days of trials and 2 to compete…sparingly at home, you need to mantain and also ( for top brakeman at the beginning fo the season) also increase it…for next olympics, check best brake world cup schedule…usually they do the first 2 races…then gfo home and train…last 2 races…then olympics …and the fly…(same thing for world champs…sometimes)
I suppose that is their form of periodization and peaking.
It is truly a fascinating sport and you can see why some of these guys are just absolute freaks. The objective is to be as big, strong, powerful and fast as humanly possible!
I don’t know if there is anyone in the NFL, or any other sport for that matter (perhaps a handful of 100m men) who can measure up to Todd Hays’ standard ''All of our guys run 4.2, 4.3, 4.4 and can squat 600-700 pounds. Basically, this is the Olympic 40-yard dash."
The funny thing is that even with those kind of freaks on the team, they are still outclassed on the push by the Swiss and Germans.
I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that when bobsledders test their 40 the runs are usually done from a 1m flying start.
Even so 4.2 is still insanely fast.
Well I would assume that only the US would talk about 40 yard times. It would be interesting to see what some of the Europeans would run.
I believe that the standard test that most bobsled athletes use is a 30m and a 60m with a 1m run in. The fastest I have seen is a 3.47 and 6.2x combo by Beat Hefti.
In europe they do test 30m-60m…also in north america:)
Yeah now that I think about it, it was probably the 30m that I read was tested from a 1m run in.
Just out of curiosity, how much of a time difference do you think the 1m run in would make?
Hmm, I would think anywhere from .2-.3
Anybody else catch the 2-man competition? The brakemen for the top 3 sleds are absolute monsters, the two Germans are both around 250 and ran 10.5 as juniors and the Russian, Voevoda, is an arm wrestling champion. Pretty impressive to watch.
How can you watch that stuff, I’m sorry but the winter Olympics is so boring.
Record it on DVR and fast forward through the Ice Dancing.
Bobsled is exciting at least…I also like speed skating and Biathlon.
Germany 2 brake was playing in the german Football League also…a monster…( football federation in germany has something like 40.000 athletes, and a semi pro tournament, gathering more than 30.000 people for the final, named german Bowl).
The most impressiva brakeman was for sure Canadian-Jamaican Lascelles Brown…huge fast freaky guy…the other Canadian, Lumdsden, plays in the CFL and had a stint in the NFL, impressive too…but on another planet.
Unfortunately, Beat Hefti had a concussion in trials, so could not compete.
regarding times…Hefti run 6"69 ( or 72 ) on 60m…FAT on a track meet in 2002, and cedric Grand, another Swiss, still holds swiss record with 6"60…Grand has also some of the best standing jumps ( especially 5 fold), that I ever heard of.
What is Lascelles Brown’s background? I heard he was from Jamaica so I’m assuming that he was in track before coming to bobsled. You are right though, he looked like he was in top shape during those first two runs.
Forgot…congrats to USA1 on 4 men…
Thought you might like this Eros: Cedric Grand
http://www.tsr.ch/tsr/index.html?siteSect=500000#channel=info;tab=info_1900;program=26;vid=11822003
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R59gv8O9AQ&feature=player_embedded
Cool!Thank you,
A few lifts from Steve Langton, USA I. Great athlete (also broad jumped 11’6’’) and nice guy. Coach Jason Hartman is the real deal.
And also ran 10.58 at 225-230lbs.