Canadian Team Wins Two-Man Bobsled

Saturday, January 19th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) _ The Canadian team of Pierre Lueders and Giulio Zardo edged Switzerland-Two by four-hundredths of a second Saturday to win a World Cup two-man bobsled race.

Lueders, driving Canada-One, finished in 1 minute, 46.48 seconds.

The Swiss team of Christian Reich and Steve Anderhub was timed in 1:46.52 to beat out the German duo of Andre Lange and Kevin Kuske for second place.

The race also awarded the European title, and Reich and Anderhub captured it as the first European finishers.

The Switzerland-One team of Martin Annen and Beat Hefti came in fourth to hold first place in the overall standings with 184 points after six World Cup events.

Todd Hays of the United States did not compete and slipped to second place in the standings with 164 points. Lueders moved to third with 161.

Hays, winner of the previous race in St. Moritz, is a strong medal favorite for next month's Olympics in Salt Lake City. He ended his World Cup season in Switzerland and returned to the United States to prepare for the Olympics.

Other top finishers included Italy's Guenther Huber (fifth), Russia's Evgeni Popov (seventh) and Austria's Wolfgang Stampfer (12th).

The competition continues Sunday with the four-man event, also awarding the European title for that category.