‘Dream has not died’: Humphries
TORONTO Kaillie Humphries burns to compete in four-person bobsled and plans to resume her battle over the holidays for the right to race against men on the World Cup circuit.
But in the meantime, the simmering Olympic champion simply keeps tending to business in two women World Cup competition in Europe.
“I still want to race four-man — that dream has not died,” Humphries said Friday from Konenigssee, Germany. “But there’s only so much I can do. I needed to turn it all off to focus on the season to date.”
Focused on the task at hand, the 30-year-old Calgarian teamed up with Melissa Lotholz, of Barrhead, Alta., to cleanly win their third medal in as many races Friday with a golden performance in the German Alps. This time around, Humphries and the sophomore Lotholz clocked the two fastest runs on the track for a combined time of one minute, 41.21 seconds.
Belgium’s Elfje Willemsen and Sophie Vercruyssen finished 0.53 seconds back to claim silver. Jamie Greubel Poser and Lauren Gibbs of the United States crossed the line 0.64 back to win bronze.
“There was a lot that went right today,” Humphries said Friday. “Melissa and I have been working really hard on our starts. She continues to improve now that she’s had a year under her belt. She’s going back to all the tracks where she’s been before, and I think that’s really helping build her confidence.”
Humphries, the 2014 Lou Marsh Award winner as Canada’s athlete of the year, is the international face of women’s bobsled. But even superstars need to make adjustments when it comes to new equipment.
Thorfin — her old sled — retired this summer with a resume that includes gold at the 2014 Sochi Games. The new sled is named O Holey Night.
“It came to us nine kilos over weight, because they changed the weight rules halfway through the summer,” Humphries said. “We had to drill a whole bunch of holes in the metal and the frame — still keeping it as safe as we could — but taking out extra metal out of the parts that didn’t need it in there. We had to take out every bit we could. We called it O Holey Night because it’s dark, and now it has holes everywhere.”
Aboard O Holey Night, Humphries and Lotholz lead the World Cup standings with 650 points. Dominant as usual.
Humphries will fly home to Canada this week where she hopes to convince the national bobsled federation to allow her to compete in the four-person event come January. The international federation has set aside three spots for Canada, with one specially designated for Humphries.
But one Canadian sled — the one piloted by Justin Kripps — qualified a full team of brakemen under the tougher Canadian standards for the first half of the season. Kripps finished first in the selection races, followed by Chris Spring and Humphries.
Cassie Sharpe is a member of the next generation of Canadian freestylers following the ski tracks set by the late Sarah Burke. A silver medallist at the 2015 superpipe world championships, Sharpe opened the new season with flair Friday by winning silver once again, this time at a Dew Tour stop in Breckenridge, Colo.
“This is insane,” said the 23-yearold from Comox, B.C. “One of the greatest feelings ever ... I’m stoked. I’m over the moon.”
Like most freestyle skiers in her age bracket, Sharpe idolized Burke — a trailblazer and world champion in the sport before dying unexpectedly in 2012 after a fall in training.
“Sarah paved the way for us,” Sharpe said. “She really was a role model for a lot of people.”
Ayana Onozuka of Japan won gold Friday, while Brita Sigourney of the U.S. captured the bronze. Roz Groenewoud of Calgary finished fifth.
World champions Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford finally proved themselves human Friday at the ISU Grand Prix Final in Barcelona.
Duhamel, of Lively, Ont., and Radford, of Balmertown, Ont., won silver to break their streak of nine straight international victories dating back to 2014.
“We were really proud, we came back fighting after struggling in the short program,” Duhamel said. “It wasn’t perfect today, but it was a step in the right direction. We plan to come back strong in the second half of the season.”
Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov of Russia won gold with a flawless free skate for 229.44 points. Duhamel and Radford scored 216.67, while Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov of Russia were third at 206.59.
The promising Julianne Seguin of Longueuil, Que., and Charlie Bilodeau of Trois-Pistoles, Que., came in fourth at 200.98.
Veteran Chris Del Bosco won gold for the second time in as many World Cup ski cross races this season. The 33-year Montrealer dominated the Big Final at the most difficult course on the circuit, ripping in front of Slovenia’s Filip Flisar (silver) and Calgary’s Brady Leman (bronze) at Val Thorens, France ... Alexandre St. Jean of Quebec City won 500-metre bronze Friday in World Cup speedskating at Heerenveen, Netherlands. St. Jean also captured gold in the team sprint alongside Calgary ’s Gilmore Junio and Vincent De Haître, of Cumberland, Ont. ... Ski racer Jan Hudec of Calgary will sit out races until at least January with knee issues. Hudec, 34, has already had eight knee surgeries in his career ... Slopestyle skier Kaya Turski of Montreal broke her arm in training this week for the Dew Tour. She underwent surgery in Colorado to insert a plate and screws with the hope of returning to action by the end of the season.