Canuck bobsledders celebrate gold medals
ALTENBERG, Germany — Bobsledders Kaillie Humphries and Justin Kripps guided Canada to a golden sweep in record fashion at the Altenberg World Cup on Saturday.
Calgary’s Humphries and Phylicia George, from Toronto, set a track record en route to victory in the women’s race, while Kripps and Alex Kopacz set two start records before finishing first in the men’s competition.
“This is just an absolutely huge day for our program and especially great to do it in Altenberg,” said Bobsleigh Canada highperformance director Chris Le Bihan. “This is one of the hardest gold medals to get on the World Cup. To show up in the lion’s den here in Germany and be able to perform and win is the real deal.”
It was Humphries’ third victory of the World Cup season and her first with George in the sled. They opened with a record time of 56.22 seconds and finished the two runs in 1:52.62.
“It feels really good and we are happy with the performance,” Humphries said.
“Phylicia and I worked really hard during the Christmas break. To be able to come out and perform, in only Phylicia’s second race, is great.
“We made big gains today with good pushes and I’m happy with how I drove. We are happy to walk away with the track record and we know there is lots of room to grow.”
It was the 22nd career victory for Humphries and her 47th World Cup podium. The pilot, a two-time Olympic champion, leads the overall season standings.
American rivals Jamie Greubel Poser and Aja Evans were second in 1:53.31 and Germany’s Anna Koehler and Annika Drazek took bronze in 1:53.32.
In the men’s race, Kripps, from Summerland, and Kopacz, from London, Ont., used strong starts to clock the fastest times in both heats for a two-run time of 1:49.21. It was their first World Cup win together as a duo.
“Things are definitely rolling,” Kripps said. “To win here in Altenberg on such a tough track is just awesome.”
Kripps has reached the podium on four occasions this season in the two-man sled and is the overall World Cup leader. Kripps and Kopacz had a start time of 5.12 seconds in the opening heat and trimmed the record to 5.11 in the second run.
“We showed up and pushed today,” Kopacz said.
The Canadians shared the podium with two German sleds. Francesco Friedrich and Martin Grothkopp slid to silver in 1:49.30 and Nico Walther and Christian Poser won bronze in 1:49.48.