USA Today

The Americans are a force in women's bobsled, and they proved their worth in Tuesday's first two heats.

United States 1, piloted by Elana Meyers, finished the day in first place with a combined time of 1:54.89, with Jamie Greubel's United States 2 a half second behind in third. Sandwiched between the two Yanks is Canada, led by Kaillie Humphries, whose sled came in at 1:55.12

Less impressive was the time posted by Lolo Jones' sled -- 1:56.73, only good enough for 11th place halfway through the competition. Jones, who famously missed out on track medals in both the 2008 and 2012 Summer Games, is on her way to a medal-less finish in Sochi as well, lest major flubs in the field ahead of her find her fortunate enough to sneak onto the podium.

Even fourth-place Belgium, sitting 0.49 seconds behind United States 2, will be hard pressed to score bronze.

The final two heats are set for Wednesday at 11:15 a.m. ET.