Park City » Hopes were high for the Americans, ranked first, third and fifth after the first run of Saturday's 4-Man Bobsled World Cup race at the Utah Olympic Park.

Surely the U.S. team would slide away with one medal, possibly a gold as well as a bronze. Hopes went flying with the gusty wind that whipped through the course. The Americans got nothing but sixth, seventh and eighth.

In a mild upset, the Canada2 team, piloted by up-and-coming driver Lyndon Rush, used a dynamic second run to improve from sixth to capture first place by two-hundreds of a second.

Rush's time of 1:36.43 edged Latvia's No. 1 driven by Janis Minins and the Russian No. 2 and Dmitry Abramovitch, both clocked in at 1:36.45.

"It's not the Olympics, so that's a good thing," said Holcomb, who stumbled getting into his sled.

Little did Holcomb, the defending World Champion, know that he'd be bitten by a flippant comment made the day before about ice being slick. Now, after his slip, he can look forward to next week's event at Lake Placid, N.Y.

"My mistake cost us the slide," he said. "We can clean that up for next week. We're still in the top 10, even with the mistake."

Todd Hays, driving USA2, was in first place after the first run.

But he also had problems at the start. He injured his left leg, the initial prognosis was a hamstring.

Hays' produced only the 12th fastest time of the second run. John Napier also struggled repeating his first run success with the USA43 sled, producing the 14th best time, sliding from fifth to eight. Still, Napier was pleased with his finish. This was just his team's third push together.

"I'm still really happy," said Napier, looking forward to next week's event in his home town. "We made a few mistakes at the top."

As far as the U.S. performance, Napier said, "We have a deep team and a successful team this year."

Luckily, however, Saturday wasn't the Olympic Games.

martyr@sltrib.com