ON CORTINA'S ICY WALL A THRILL FOR ITALY

Two's company and four's a crowd when Italian bobsledders get together for a go at a world championship. At least that's the way it seemed on the icy run at Italy's Cortina d'Ampezzo when Eugenio Monti and his brakeman, Renzo Alverà, streaked over Cortina's icy run to a fourth straight world's championship in their slick fire-engine-red Italia II.

The Italians have never yet won a four-man world bobsledding championship, though they'll be trying again this week at Cortina. Yet in the smaller sleds they have recently been invincible. Monti, a mountain man who turned to sledding after he broke both legs skiing, is now perhaps the finest individual bobsledder alive, and he has impressive fellow competitors among his countrymen.

Because of the time it takes to build a first-rate run, bobsledding will not be included in the Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley, but Italian sports fans who feel a proprietary interest in this year's Games—the greater part of which will be held in Rome—were quick to hail the Monti-Alverà bobsledding victory as a "triumph for Italy—the equal of an Olympic title."

PHOTO

CARLO BAVAGNOLI

BORING ALONG at 70 mph, an Italian sled rides high up on icy wall at Cortina.

PHOTO

CARLO BAVAGNOLI

CHAMPION BOBSLEDDERS MONTI AND ALVERA PUSH OFF. GOOD START IS HALF THE RACE