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Park City • It was supposed to be the final send-off, the last time down the home track for bobsled driver Shauna Rohbock before she finished her World Cup season and walked away from the sport to which she has dedicated the past 12 years of her remarkable athletic career.
Yet she didn't get to make it.
Heavy snow and roaring winds forced the cancellation of the women's race at Utah Olympic Park on Friday, just moments before Rohbock and brakewoman Val Fleming were scheduled to take their first run.
Though the weather eased enough for the men to compete later — Russia's Alexsandr Zubkov and Dmitry Trunenkov won the two-man race, with defending Olympic champion Steve Holcomb, of Park City, and Curtis Tomasevicz in a tie for seventh — that kept the longtime teammates and Park City residents from enjoying one last hurrah on the track where they endured such disappointment just a year ago, when Fleming suffered the hamstring injury that kept her from pushing for Rohbock at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
"It's just tough," Rohbock said.
Especially because she won't ever race down her home course again, at least not as a competitive athlete.
Standing in a nice warm lodge while a howling wind blew snowflakes sideways outside, Rohbock confirmed her plans to retire at the end of the season. The two-time Olympian who won a silver medal at the 2006 Turin Games in Italy said she finally has grown tired of battling the injuries that have nagged her the past four years.
"It's really frustrating for me," she said. "It's frustrating for the brakemen, it's frustrating for the team. So I can't do it anymore. I'm tired of hurting."
The 33-year-old Orem native was arguably the greatest female athlete ever to grow up in Utah. She was a multisport star at Mountain View High School, a soccer and track All-American at Brigham Young University and a professional soccer player before turning to bobsled.
In the sled, Rohbock won four world championship medals, her silver medal, some two dozen World Cup medals and an overall World Cup championship. But she finished a disappointing sixth at the Vancouver Games with brakewoman Michelle Rzepka, after Fleming was hurt.
"It is hard to retire as an athlete, especially when you've been one your whole life," Rohbock said. "I pretty much just beat my body to death."
Rohbock said she hopes to work her way into coaching or athlete development once her career is over, never mind losing the extra 10 or 15 pounds she carries as a bobsled driver.
But first, she and Fleming have plans to enjoy one last season on tour together and, hopefully, cap it with a gold medal at the World Championships in Konigssee, Germany — where they won a World Cup race two years ago.
"Winning a world championship on a German track, that would be unbelievable," Rohbock said.
Already, the two have enjoyed finally competing together on the harrowing track at Whistler, where Fleming couldn't make it for the Olympics.
They won a silver medal there, too, in the season-opening World Cup event, racing in the sled used by three-time Olympian Todd Hays before a head injury forced him to retire last year.
"Val and I kind of wanted to finish it together," Rohbock said, "and it's been awesome that we've been able to slide together. I feel like we've had such a successful career."
Though the cancellation of her home-track send-off was disappointing, it also meant that Rohbock will have a little more time to rest an injured quadriceps muscle before resuming the final chapter of her illustrious career next weekend in Lake Placid, N.Y.
And with the snow blowing hard outside, it also gave her a chance to reflect on the greatest achievement of her sporting life — that silver medal at the Turin Games.
"That had to be the highlight," she said, smiling. "It was an amazing moment."
World Cup bobsled
R At Utah Olympic Park
Two-man bobsled
Friday
Gold • Alexsandr Zubkov and Dmitry Trunenkov, Russia - 1:37.33
Silver • Simone Bertazzo and Sergio Riva, Italy - 1:37.47
Bronze • Manuel Machata and Andreas Bredau, Germany — 1:37.67 —
Demong to compete Saturday in first event since Olympics
Bill Demong is taking a break from the World Cup circuit to compete this weekend in a Continental Cup event in Park City — his first competition in Utah since winning his historic gold medal in Nordic combined at the Vancouver Olympics.
Demong was the first American to win gold in a Nordic event.
The four-time Olympian and Park City resident figures to stand a good chance to win, considering the Continental Cup circuit is designed mostly for athletes still working toward the elite World Cup level.
Competition begins both Saturday and Sunday with ski jumping at 10 a.m. at Utah Olympic Park, followed by the cross-country ski race at Soldier Hollow at 2 p.m. Each day's competition comprises its own separate event.
– Michael C. Lewis