The brakeman brings the bob to a stop after the finish line. What the IBSF rules say on the brake and why the outrun is no stroll but needs training.
After the finish line the race is over for the clock, but not for safety. The honest answer to "What does the brakeman do now?": he brings the bob to a stop. The clinical literature describes it thus: the push athlete at the rear of the bob counts as the brakeman and is responsible for braking the inertia of the sled on the track once the finish line is crossed [2].
The brake is described precisely in the IBSF rules. Every bob must have a working braking system [1]. Only the harrow brake is permitted; it is operated with two separately actuated handles, which in the four-man bob lie to the left and right of the brakeman [1]. The handles must be at least 220 mm long in the two-man bob and at least 350 mm in the four-man bob, and the teeth of the harrow must reach the ice at least 50 mm below the runner standing surface [1]. The construction must be such that the brake suffers no permanent deformation even when operated with one handle and a full crew [1].
What counts for you: the outrun is no stroll. An analysis at the Whistler Sliding Centre over four years and more than 43,200 runs found that more frequent and more severe injuries occurred in the lower track sections, where speed is high [3].
Whoever lets go at the finish straight has not yet finished the run.
Entry criteria (practice standard):
The brake is a harrow with teeth that bite the ice [1]. It is operated with both handles. The construction rule ensures it is not permanently deformed even with one handle [1].
Milestone: You explain how the brake is built and where the handles lie.
The brake is operated only after the finish line [2]. Braking before would spoil the time and disturb the run. Exactly when to start the coach tells you on the ground in practice and the pilot in the bob. The background: the pilot is still steering until the finish line and needs a bob that does not behave differently than planned. The team agrees beforehand who gives the signal. (practice)
Milestone: In training you brake only on the call.
Hard braking can turn the bob or disturb the pilot. How much force you apply when is technique you learn with a coach. The rulebooks give no figures for it. The specialist literature gives no braking distances or deceleration values either. Whoever names you a number is estimating: ask where it comes from.
Milestone: In an exercise you brake evenly without the bob swerving.
Should the bob stop after a crash, the rule is: the whole crew must cross the finish line together with the sled; if the sled stops before, the team is disqualified [1]. Help from third parties is not allowed [1]. That is a rule case, not a call to keep going in danger: never take a risk just because the rule says so.
Milestone: You know the rule and know that safety comes first.
In the outrun you stay calmly seated until the bob stands and the coach or track management gives the sign. When getting out of the bob you watch hands, brake and terrain. (practice) Entering the track during a heat is absolutely prohibited under the IBSF rules [1]; so stay in the outrun area until track management gives the all-clear.
Milestone: You get out only on the call.
Train the brake hand change in a dry model or on the ground with a coach: hand on the right handles without looking. The brake is operated seated, with gloves, in little room. That is practice, not a study finding. Also settle which hand grips first if only one handle is reachable: under the rules the brake must work with one handle too [1].
After crossing the finish line [2].
A harrow brake with two separately actuated handles, in the four-man bob to the left and right of the brakeman [1].
No, but it must pass the finish line with the crew. If it stops before, the team is disqualified [1].
A Whistler analysis found more frequent and more severe injuries in the lower track sections [3].
Only on the ground in a dry model with a coach. You learn real braking on the track.
Crash Behaviour in the Bob: Stay in the Sled and Know the Rules