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When will Todd Hays compete?
Published February 14, 2006
As the 2006 Winter Olympics roll on, most people from Del Rio have one question on their minds: When is Del Rio’s Todd Hays supposed to compete?
Hays, 37, the No. 3 ranked driver in world in the two-man bobsled and the No. 4 ranked driver in the world in the four-man bobsled, is scheduled to begin competition in Torino, Italy Saturday, Feb. 18 as the two-man bobsled field begins qualifying.
The previously hyped Friday start time of 3 a.m. is incorrect. According to nbcolympics.com, the official NBC TV network site of the Winter Olympics, the two-man bobsled qualifying round is scheduled to begin Feb. 18 at 5:30 p.m. Torino time, which is seven hours ahead of our time here in Texas.
The event won’t actually be televised until at least 7 p.m. Saturday on NBC (channel 4) when the network begins its evening Olympics coverage.
The finals of the two-man event are scheduled to begin Sunday at 5:30 p.m. in Torino. They will air Sunday at 6 p.m. on NBC.
Many publications, including Sports Illustrated and the San Antonio Express News, are picking Hays to capture a medal in the event that Europeans have dominated in the past. That changed in 2002 when Hays and his four-man team won the silver medal in Salt Lake City, Utah.
This time Hays, and brakeman Pavle Jovanovic, are looking to win the first two-man bobsled medal in the history of the U.S.
Hays and Jovanovic were the No. 1 ranked team in the world, according to the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation’s (FIBT) World Cup standings, but they missed out on a Jan. 29 race to prepare for Torino.
Hays’ four-man team is just as strong. Once ranked No. 2 in the world, now ranked No. 4, the team of Hays, Jovanovic, Steve Mesler and Brock Kreitzburg will look to improve upon the 2002 finish.
The four-man team will begin qualifying Feb. 24 at 5:30 p.m. Torino time. The finals are scheduled for Feb. 25 at 5:30 p.m. Torino time.
With Hays, the No. 3 ranked driver in the world behind Canada’s Pierre Lueders and Russia’s Alexandr Zoubkov, the U.S. team has its best shot in years.
Hays is quite familiar with the Torino track.
Thirteen months ago, Hays suffered a severe foot injury at the start of a four-man race on the Italian track. He and his team finished the race and Hays, whose foot had been sliced open by the sled, was immediately transported to the hospital, but not before the ambulance he was riding in got lost twice along the way.
Hays recovered and lost about three months of practice and competition but no toes or muscle or nerve damage. All he has left to remind of his last trip to Torino is a scar atop his foot.
This time, he’s hoping to leave Italy with a prettier reminder.
Hays has also been busy off the track.
He was nominated by the United States Olympic Committee for the 2005 SportsMan of the Year and he is among 12 athletes in the running for a spot on the sixth season of the popular reality show, “The Apprentice.”
Hays is competing against fellow Olympians Allison Baver, Travis Cabral, Casey FitzRandolph, Chad Hedrick, Danny Kass, Joe Pack, Speedy Peterson, Angela Ruggiero, Katie Uhlaender, Seth Wescott and Chris Witty.
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