Test Clears U.S. Bobsledder Shimer

Brian Shimer, a four-time Olympian and the driver of the top U.S. bobsleds, was found with higher-than-allowed levels of testosterone in the first part of a drug test after a meet last November, according to sources on the U.S. Olympic team.

But Shimer, the bronze medalist in two- and four-man sleds at last year’s world championships, went unpunished because the second part of the test showed normal testosterone levels, the sources said.

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Austrian Hermann Maier won his fourth consecutive super-giant slalom in the final World Cup race before the Olympics, while the struggling U.S. team got a big boost from Daron Rahlves’ seventh-place finish.

Maier, a candidate for four gold medals at the Nagano Games and the runaway World Cup leader, is unbeaten in the discipline this season and has won 10 races overall.

He was timed in 1 minute 19.79 seconds over the course at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, beating countryman Hans Knauss by .91 seconds.

Rahlves gave the U.S. team its best performance in any event this season, clocking 1:21.22. Preparing for his first Olympics, Rahlves was 10th in the previous super-G.

Maier posted his first World Cup victory in a super-G last February at Garmisch-Partenkirchen. This season, he has emerged as the tour’s superstar.

The former bricklayer will be the Olympic favorite in the super-G, giant slalom and combination and also could win a gold in the downhill.

Norway’s Lasse Kjus was third in 1:20.88 and became only the second non-Austrian to reach the podium in the super-G this season. Italy’s Luca Cattaneo was third on Jan. 11 at Schladming, Austria.

Josef Strobl (1:20.94) and Andreas Schifferer (1:21.15) helped turn the race into another showcase for the Austrians, finishing fourth and fifth.