Park City's Steven Holcomb out to break medal drought

Sochi, Russia • It's all about Steven Holcomb on Monday at the Sochi Olympics.

The bobsled driver from Park City takes his final two runs in the two-man competition with an eye on the first American medal in the event in 62 years. That's exactly the length of the drought he broke when he won gold in the four-man event at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, and he sits in third place after the first of two runs Sunday night.

"It's not something we really think about," Holcomb said. "It's kind of like Vancouver — we still have a job to do and we still have to do it well. We're going to come out ... and throw down two runs as fast as we can and hopefully be the best."

Holcomb and brakeman Steven Langton sit 0.36 seconds off the lead of Russia's Alexandr Zubkov, not an insurmountable deficit but not one likely to be overturned against a talented driver on his home track. Holcomb is just 0.04 seconds behind Switzerland's Beat Heft for second, but the next three drivers are within 0.12 seconds of him.

It should be a compelling conclusion.

Beyond that, it's a light day for the locals.

Only Park City's Anders Johnson competes in the ski jumping team competition after finishing 47th in the normal-hill individual competition and being disqualified from the large-hill competition.

- Michael C. Lewis