WHISTLER, British Columbia, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Defending champion Andre Lange of Germany drove his two-man bobsled into the lead Saturday after two Olympic runs at the Whistler Sliding Center.
Lange, who piloted the gold medal winning sled in both the two-man and four-man competition at Turin four years ago, teamed with Kevin Kuske to jump from second into first place on the second run.
The third and fourth runs will take place Sunday.
The Germans turned in a combined time for the two runs of 1:43.31, just .11 of a second ahead of another German sled containing Thomas Florschuetz and Richard Adjei.
Alexsandr Zubkov and Alexey Voevoda of Russia were third and American world champions Steven Holcomb and Curtis Tomasevicz were fourth.
Holcomb and Tomasevicz had a first-place run working in their initial trip down the course, but Holcomb had trouble with a sweeping turn midway through the trip and his sled almost turned sideways. He made an amazing recovery and was able to finish sixth after the first run.
The Americans moved up two places with their second run and found themselves in good position for a medal with a solid showing Sunday.
The United States sled will start the third run just .12 of a second out of a medal position.
