Third medal’s a bronze for Kaillie
‘This one’s probably the most personal one for me’: Humphries
Canada’s Kaillie Humphries won her third Olympic medal on Wednesday with a bronze in women’s bobsled at the Pyeongchang Winter Games.
The two-time defending Olympic gold medallist from 2010 and ’14 raced to a time of three minutes 22.89 seconds with brakeman Phylicia George.
Germany’s Mariama Jamanka and Lisa Buckwitz won gold in 3:22.45.
Elana Meyers Taylor, who finished second behind Humphries in ’14, and Lauren Gibbs of the U.S. were second in 3:22.52.
Edmonton’s Alysia Rissling and Heather Moyse of Summerside, P.E.I. — the brakeman for Humphries at the ’10 and ’14 Games — finished sixth in 3:23.63.
Christine de Bruin of Stony Plain, Alta., and Melissa Lotholz of Barrhead, Alta., seventh in 3:23.89. Humphries was fifth after Tuesday’s first two heats, 0.04 seconds off the podium and 0.34 seconds back of first at an Olympic Sliding Centre that has produced a number of incredibly close results at these Games.
Humphries, a 32-year-old from Calgary and George, a 30-yearold two-time summer Olympian from Markham, Ont., slid to a time of 50.52 seconds in the Wednesday’s third heat to climb into a podium position, 0.34 seconds back of second and 0.37 seconds adrift of first.
Humphries and George posted a fourth-run time of 50.77 seconds to stand first briefly before falling back to third after Meyers Taylor and Jamanka both completed their final runs.
“You know, we came out, pressure was on, we knew we had to perform,” Humphries said. “Overall our pushes over these four heats were absolutely fantastic, which is a testament to how hard Phylicia has worked as an athlete.”
It’s the second bobsled medal for Canada in Pyeongchang. Justin Kripps and Alex Kopacz raced Germany’s Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis to a stunning gold-medal tie in the two-man bobsled Monday when both sleds produced combined four-run times of 3:16.86.
Humphries led from start to finish eight years ago at the Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C., and battled back after sitting second through two heats to overtake Meyers Taylor at the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia.
“Each experience of the Games is completely different. This medal is extremely special. This one’s probably the most personal one for me, the most emotional,” Humphries said.
Humphries came to Pyeongchang with 48 career World Cup medals, including three victories and two second-place finishes this season to claim her fourth overall title.
She was fifth last March at a test event on the same track with Lotholz.
Moyse retired in 2014, forcing Humphries to find a new brakeman ahead of the ’18 Olympics.
She split time this season between Lotholz and George, who competed in track and field at both the ’12 and ’16 Games, before settling on the latter.
Moyse, 39, rejoined the national team program in September, but the plan seemed to always be for her to push for one of Canada’s younger pilots in South Korea.
The men’s four-man bobsled race goes Saturday and Sunday.