Four, Men

The four man event was a much more open competition than the two man competition that followed later in the week, and as many as eight teams were still in contention at the start of the final run. Olympic experience proved invaluable as, despite the 12 years since the previous Games, the pilots of the first four had all competed in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

The heavyweight Lake Placid Sno-Birds bob, driven by 43 year old Frank Tyler, placed fifth on the first run but an outstanding second run swept them to the top of the leader board, where they remained to the finish.

Behind them was the Belgian sled piloted by the multi-talented Max Houben. Houben won his only Olympic medal in his fiftieth year, and his fifth Olympics, having competed as a sprinter in the 1920 Summer Games before taking up the bobsleigh. Also a footballer who had been a member of a Belgian championship winning side, and a competitor in both motor racing and tennis, Houben died instantly in a horrific crash whilst practicing for the 1949 World Championships, at Lake Placid.

The other US crew finished third, despite the presence of both gold and silver medal winning two-man drivers in the world champion Switzerland I crew. The racing passed relatively smoothly without any serious crashes or injuries, although racing was temporarily suspended during the second run when the track was flooded after a water pipe broke.