Holcomb learned to ski when he was 2 years old. He was born in Park City, Utah, where his mother would take him skiing at every opportunity. He began ski racing when he was six at the main resort of Park City, and began ski racing for the Park City Ski Team for the following twelve years. During this time he was also an athlete in local sports, playing soccer, football, basketball, baseball, and running track. In 1998 he participated in a local USA bobsled team try-out and scored enough points to be invited to the National Team Camp, which included the National Push Championships. He finished in eighth place and was invited to stay for an additional week to train with the National Team. Despite his eighth-place finish, which qualified him for the national team, he was not selected because of his small stature and young age. After placing 5th at the National Team Trials in early October 1998 at the Utah Olympic Park he chose to attend the University of Utah. Shortly following the naming of the 1998 World Cup Team, an injury caused the withdrawal of one member. On November 3, 1998 he was asked to join the World Cup team in Calgary, Alberta, for the first World Cup race where he pushed for driver Brian Shimer. He then went on to have an above average career as a pusher for drivers Jim Herberich, Mike Dionne, Todd Hays, and Brian Shimer. Shortly before the 2002 Winter Olympics he was cut from Brian Shimer's team, and replaced with Dan Steele, a veteran from the 1998 Winter Olympics. At the Utah Olympic Park for the 2002 Winter Olympics he served as a bobsled forerunner, who tests the bobsled course prior to competition. Holcomb left the military with an honorable discharge in June 2006, and competed on the World Cup circuit. Starting with the 2004–2005 season, he achieved second and third ranked American driver. In the 2006–2007 season Holcomb won the two-man World Cup Championship, while his four-man team finished second. As Holcomb rose through the ranks of American bobsledders however, a degenerative eye disease, initially diagnosed in 2002, began to affect his daily life and competitive skills which led to depression. In 2007 a non-invasive surgical procedure, corneal collagen cross-linking was performed to stabilize the disease and in 2008 implantable corrective lenses were inserted and provided a measure of correction during the 2007–2008 season, allowing him to earn three gold, three silver, and one bronze medals. After Holcomb won gold at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Brian Boxer Wachler renamed the procedure C3-R to Holcomb C3-R in Holcomb's honor, marking the first time a medical procedure was named after an Olympic athlete.
Career
Holcomb and his two-man and four-man teams achieved 2 golds, 3 silvers and 2 bronzes and then won the first World Championship in four-man bobsled since 1959. Additionally, he piloted his two-man sled to a bronze medal. In Vancouver, he finished 2nd in his four-man sled in the only World Cup race at the newly finished Whistler track. Holcomb and his Night Train /Night Hawk competed on the FIBT World Cup circuit. In the first three tour stops to date, his squad with teammates Steve Mesler, Justin Olsen and Curt Tomasevicz has won gold in the 4-man at Lake Placid & Cesana and silver in the 4-Man at Lake Placid and bronze in Cesana. , Steve Mesler, and Curtis Tomasevicz. Holcomb won four medals at the FIBT World Championships: a gold and three bronzes. He also won the 2007 Two-man World Cup title, won the 2007 combined World Cup title, and finished second in the 2007 Four-Man World Cup standings. He became the first American man to win the Two-Man World Cup title. Holcomb also won the 2007 and 2010 Combined World Cup titles, and the 2010 4-Man World Cup title. It was announced on 17 January 2010 that Holcomb made the United States team in both the two-man and four-man events for the 2010 Winter Olympics. On February 17, Holcomb led the four-man US bobsled team to a gold-medal victory, ending a 62-year gold medal drought in United States Olympic four-man bobsled competition. Holcomb qualified for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, in both the two-man and four-man bobsled. On February 16, Holcomb and brakeman Steve Langton won the bronze medal in the two-man competition, ending yet another 62-year medal drought in US Olympic two-man competition. These medals were upgraded to Silver Medals on March 27, 2019 when the IOC vacated the golds that Russian pilot Alexander Zubkov won in both the two- and four-man events. That means Holcomb, who crossed the line third in both of those races, now is a two-time silver winner in addition to the four-man gold he won at Vancouver in 2010. Steven Holcomb is the winningest American bobsled athlete in history.
Holcomb was found dead in his room at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, New York, on May 6, 2017. He was 37. The initial autopsy cited fluid in Holcomb’s lungs as a significant factor, while a subsequent toxicology report indicated that Holcomb had a blood-alcohol level of 0.188, along with the sleeping aid Lunesta in his system.
