A hat-trick for Humphries
Calgarian becomes the country’s only pilot with three Olympic medals
After two straight trips to the top of the Olympic podium, Kaillie Humphries found herself on the side of it with a bronze medal in women’s twowoman bobsled Wednesday night.
With brakeman Phylicia George, Humphries was in fifth spot entering the final two races.
But she clawed back into a podium spot with an overall time of 3:22.89, becoming the most decorated bobsledder in Canadian Olympic history in the process.
“This medal is extremely special,” Humphries said.
“This one’s probably the most personal one for me, the most emotional. I know how hard Phylicia and I have really had to work and how hard our team has had to work to get to this position, and we earned our bronze tonight.”
Germany’s Mariama Jamanka took the gold by less than a 10th of a second over American Elana Meyers Taylor, 3:22.45 to 3:22.52.
Edmonton’s Alysia Rissling finished sixth (3:23.63); teammate Christine de Bruin of Stony Plain, Alta., was seventh (3:23.89).
Humphries was in third place after her first run Wednesday night, which was her third of four total.
She climbed two spots with that third run, passing an American and a German sled, but was only five one-hundredths of a second in front of fourth place.
“You know, we came out, the pressure was on, we knew we had to perform,” said Humphries, who also credited an equipment change from Tuesday to Wednesday — replacing the runners on her sled with a different type — with helping her significantly increase her speed.
The 32-year-old from Calgary came to Pyeongchang trying for a historic third straight Olympic gold medal after wins in Vancouver and Sochi. The pilot won both of those with Heather Moyse of Summerside, P.E.I., as her brakeman, but Moyse retired after the Games in Russia. George, the former Olympic hurdler, was in her sled all season. This was George’s third Olympics, but first Winter Games, and her first medal.
“It’s been so exciting,” George said. “To be able to call myself a summer and a winter Olympian, and now to have my first Olympic medal, and the fact that I’m able to share this with Kaillie,” she said.
“She sent me a Twitter message right after the Rio Olympics saying ‘hey, do you want to come up for bobsleigh?’ And at first, I was like, ‘you’re crazy’. But I’m so happy I answered the call, and came out.”
Moyse ended up coming out of retirement just this fall, but passed on the chance to rejoin the Humphries sled. She pushed Rissling instead.
Pilot and brakeman continued their buddy-comedy routine of the past week when the competition was over, drinking cans of beer while doing media interviews and generally joking with one another. Moyse, 39, teased that Rissling was a terrible teammate, and then said that the whole experience had been “incredible.”
“This girl has so much potential in this sport,” she said of her 29-year-old pilot. “I feel so lucky to have been a part of the early stages of her experience.”
Asked if she was finished with bobsled for good, Moyse said: “I’m about as done as I thought I was after Sochi.”
Rissling responded: “You’ll come back to your soulmate, you’ll see.”
The Canadians came into Wednesday night with longshot chances at gold after Jamanka distanced herself from the field with two strong runs on Tuesday night.
Humphries was 0.34 seconds out of first place — a significant disparity in bobsled. Although the twotime champion was sitting in fifth place after two runs, she was only four one-hundredths of a second out of bronze-medal position.
She said she knew she they could make up that time with a couple of strong runs.
Humphries, now the only Canadian bobsled pilot with three Olympic medals, breaking a tie with Pierre Lueders, who has two, says she has no intention of giving up the sport before the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.
George plans to be there with her, although she will transition quickly to pursuing another hurdles appearance at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. “Go do your thing for a couple years and then come back,” Humphries said. “I know there’s more to do together.”
And despite having been twice an Olympic champion, Humphries insisted that a podium finish of any kind was still special.
“I am 100 per cent OK with standing here,” she said. “We worked our butts off for this position, and like I said, it’s less about the colour, more about ... they say it’s about the journey, and that’s 100 per cent what it’s about.
“Phylicia came out (to bobsled) six months ago, and to be in this position and know that we are able to work hard, put our heads down and walk away with an Olympic medal for Canada is absolutely fantastic in any colour.”
It’s less about the colour
(of the medal), more about ... they say it’s about the journey, and that’s 100 per cent what it’s about.