Canada earns 4 medals in Whistler, including silver for Summerland’s Kripps
WHISTLER — Canada wrapped up the first day of competition at the World Cup by winning four medals at the Whistler Sliding Centre.
Kaillie Humphries and Melissa Lotholz capped Friday’s results by taking gold in the women’s bobsled in a time of one minute 46.67 seconds.
Canada also grabbed the top two spots on the podium in the two-man bobsled.
Canadians Chris Spring and Neville Wright won gold in 1:44.17, while Justin Kripps and Alexander Kopacz took silver in 1:44.19.
Earlier in the day, Canadian Jane Channell won silver in the skeleton race.
The 29-year-old from North Vancouver managed to defend the second-place ranking she earned in the first heat, securing her podium finish with a speedy two-run time of 1:48.61.
Humphries added to her World Cup women’s points standings lead, getting her second win of the season.
Humphries and Melissa Lotholz prevailed over Jamie Greubel Poser and Aja Evans of the U.S. by nearly a half-second. The U.S. team of Elana Meyers Taylor and Kehri Jones took the bronze.
It was the 14th time that Humphries, Greubel Poser and Meyers Taylor — the three Olympic favourites this season — had the top three spots in an international race. No other driver in the race was within a second of the winning time.
Humphries’ triumph came not long after Spring and Wright took gold in the two-man race. Spring and Wright barely held off countrymen Kripps and Kopacz, winning by just two-hundredths of a second.
Latvia got the two-man bronze, after Oskars Melbardis and Daumants Dreiskens posted the second-best times in both heats.
The third Canadian duo of Nick Poloniato and Lascelles Brown finished seventh in 1:44.53.
Kripps is the World Cup overall two-man points leader after three races, just ahead of Spring.
Nick Cunningham and Ryan Bailey were the top U.S. two-man sled, grabbing 11th. Cunningham fell to fourth in the overall World Cup standings.
As for Channell, she knows the track at the Whistler Sliding Centre better than most of her competitors but couldn’t hold back the tears when she ended up on the podium with a silver medal.
“I didn’t have much confidence, honestly, going into today, even though I know it’s my home track,” said Channell. “I knew I could do it and everything, but it’s just a matter of actually being able to execute it. Being here for selection races at the beginning of the year was so helpful and to be able to come back and build off of what I was able to do in September was huge. I’m really happy with how today went.”
It was the first World Cup medal of the season for Channell, as well as her first at the Whistler Sliding Centre. The result was Channell’s best since she won a silver and bronze during the 2015-2016 season.
With the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics on the horizon, winning the silver after a disappointing 2016-17 season “means so much” for Channell.
Germany’s Jacqueline Loelling earned the gold with a time of 1:48.38, while fellow German Tina Hermann took the bronze in 1:48.65.