1948 Winter Olympics / Bobsleigh

Bobsleigh at the 1948 Winter Olympics
information
venue	St. Moritz
Competition venue	Olympia bob run
Nations	9
Athletes	71 (71 )
date	January 30th to February 7th, 1948
decisions	2
← Garmisch 1936 Oslo 1952 →

Two bobsleigh competitions were held at the 5th Winter Olympics in St. Moritz in 1948 . The venue was the Olympia Bobrun , a natural track with a length of 1576 m and a height difference of 130 m. The teams each had to complete four runs, the running times of which were added to form an overall result.

Balance sheet

Medal table

space	country				total
1	Switzerland	1	1	-	2
2	United States	1	-	2	3
3	Belgium	-	1	-	1

Medalist

competitor	gold	silver	bronze
Two-man bobsleigh	Felix Endrich , Fritz Waller	Fritz retirement , Paul Eberhard	Frederick Fortune , Schuyler Carron
Four-man bobsleigh	Francis Tyler , Patrick Martin , Edward Rimkus , William D'Amico	Max Houben , Freddy Mansveld , Louis-Georges Niels , Jacques Mouvet	James Bickford , Thomas Hicks , Donald Dupree , William Dupree

Results

(all times in min)

Two-man bobsleigh

space	country	athlete	1st run	2nd run	3rd run	4th run	total
1	SUI	Switzerland II: Felix Endrich , Fritz Waller	1: 22.4	1: 22.7	1: 21.7	1: 22.4	5: 29.2
2	SUI	Switzerland I: Fritz Feierabend , Paul Eberhard	1: 23.7	1: 24.0	1: 21.4	1: 21.3	5: 30.4
3	United States	USA II: Frederick Fortune , Schuyler Carron	1: 25.5	1: 24.1	1: 22.5	1: 23.2	5: 35.3
4th	BEL	Belgium I: Max Houben , Jacques Mouvet	1: 24.4	1: 24.4	1: 24.5	1: 24.2	5: 37.5
5	GBR	Great Britain I: William Coles , Raymond Collings	1: 25.2	1: 24.4	1: 24.2	1: 24.1	5: 37.9
6th	ITA	Italy II: Mario Vitali , Dario Poggi	1: 25.0	1: 25.0	1: 23.8	1: 24.2	5: 38.0
7th	NOR	Norway II: Arne Holst , Ivar Johansen	1: 25.6	1: 25.0	1: 23.7	1: 23.9	5: 38.2
8th	ITA	Italy I: Nino Bibbia , Edilberto Campadese	1: 25.1	1: 25.1	1: 24.0	1: 24.4	5: 38.6
9	United States	USA I: Tuffield Latour , Leo Martin	1: 24.9	1: 24.8	1: 24.1	1: 25.4	5: 39.2
10	BEL	Belgium II: Marcel Leclef , Louis-Georges Niels	1: 26.8	1: 24.9	1: 23.6	1: 24.5	5: 39.8

Runs 1 and 2: January 30, 1948 Runs
3 and 4: January 31, 1948

16 bobsleighs at the start, 15 of them in the ranking.

The runs were scheduled to start at 1 p.m. A total of 16 teams took part. Great Britain II crashed in the third run and was eliminated. So 15 bobs came into the ranking. Of these, Argentina was last in 5: 52.8. The two Swiss teams achieved two best times in each of the four races, with Feierabend with 1: 21.30 in the last run, the absolutely fastest time of all two-man drivers. Endrich / Waller were the first to start in the fourth run - their 1: 22.40 was a slower time than all the other runners, but Fortune / Carron lagged well behind, which meant that the gold medal was already secured for Switzerland.

Four-man bobsleigh

space	country	athlete	1st run	2nd run	3rd run	4th run	total
1	United States	USA II: Francis Tyler , Patrick Martin , Edward Rimkus , William D'Amico	1: 17.1	1: 19.6	1: 21.4	1: 22.0	5: 20.1
2	BEL	Belgium I: Max Houben , Freddy Mansveld , Louis-Georges Niels , Jacques Mouvet	1: 17.3	1: 20.9	1: 22.0	1: 21.1	5: 21.3
3	United States	USA I: James Bickford , Thomas Hicks , Donald Dupree , William Dupree	1: 17.4	1: 20.7	1: 21.8	1: 21.6	5: 21.5
4th	SUI	Switzerland I: Fritz Feierabend , Fritz Waller , Felix Endrich , Heinrich Angst	1: 16.9	1: 21.2	1: 22.3	1: 21.7	5: 22.1
5	NOR	Norway I: Arne Holst , Ivar Johansen , Reidar Berg , Alf Large	1: 17.3	1: 20.8	1: 21.4	1: 23.0	5: 22.5
6th	ITA	Italy I: Nino Bibbia , Giancarlo Ronchetti , Edilberto Campadese , Luigi Cavalieri	1: 18.2	1: 20.8	1: 22.1	1: 21.9	5: 23.0
7th	GBR	Great Britain I: William Coles , William McLean , Raymond Collings , George Holliday	1: 18.5	1: 20.9	1: 22.5	1: 23.0	5: 24.9
8th	SUI	Switzerland II: Franz Kapus , Werner Spring , Bernhard Schilter , Paul Eberhard	1: 17.6	1: 20.8	1: 22.3	1: 24.7	5: 25.5
9	FRA	France I: René Charlet , Jean Morin , Jacques Descatoire , Amédée Ronzel	1: 18.9	1: 22.2	1: 23.8	1: 24.5	5: 29.4
10	NOR	Norway II: Bjarne Schrøen , Gunnar Thoresen , Arnold Dyrdahl , Benn John Valsø	1: 20.0	1: 22.6	1: 23.6	1: 23.5	5: 29.7

1st run: February 6, 1948
2nd, 3rd and 4th run: February 7, 1948

15 bobsleighs at the start, all in the ranking.

After the first run, Switzerland I led. The second run had to be stopped after eight of fifteen teams because the track was damaged by a water pipe break at the "Sunny Corner". The previous times had to be canceled and the competition continued on the following day. USA II was in second place ahead of Belgium I and Norwegians I, who were third at the same time, while USA I was fourth. For the three runs on February 7th there was a change at Switzerland II, because two-man silver medalist Paul Eberhard had suffered a fractured tailbone; Rolf Spring was used for him .

Because of the heavy snowfall, the start of the second run was postponed by four hours, but it continued to snow. The track was evacuated again and again, but this was no longer possible during the race. In addition, there was sometimes poor visibility for the pilots. It turned out that the sledges were around three seconds slower per run compared to the previous day. At 1 p.m., some of the track bobsleighs were let down. USA II had an advantage because the runway was not yet heavily covered with snow. Her 1: 19.6 was the best time of the day. Norway I came down surprisingly well, while Switzerland I was 1.6 seconds behind the best time. In the fourth heat, to everyone's astonishment, Belgium achieved the best time with a lead of 0.5 seconds, which enabled the advance to silver. USA II only drove the fifth fastest time in its “gold run”, but the lead was still large. One reason for the relapse of the Swiss was their lower weight. The two American and Belgian sleds with their 400 kg crews had pushed through the snow cover and were able to use the ice below as a driving surface.

Web links

• Bobsledding at the 1948 Winter Olympics in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Official report of the 1948 Winter Olympics (PDF; 3.7 MB)

Individual evidence

1. ^ «On the eve of the Olympics»; Subtitle: “The timetable in St. Moritz” . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 30, 1948, p. 4 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
2. ^ "Gold and silver medal for Switzerland in the two-man bobsleigh". In: Sport-Zürich, February 2, 1948, p. 10.
3. ↑ «The four-man bobsleigh in battle». In: Sport Zürich, February 6, 1948, p. 6.
4. ↑ «Great American success in the four-man bobsleigh». In: Sport Zürich, February 9, 1948, p. 6.