Three Canadian bobsled teams came away with medals in a World Cup bobsled competition in Whistler, British Columbia on Friday. In the two-man bobsled competition, Canadian pilots Chris Spring of Calgary, Alberta and Justin Kripps of Summerland, British Columbia led Team Canada to gold and silver medals respectively, while in the women’s bobsled, Kaillie Humphries showed once again why she is the best female bobsledder in the world, as she won her second World Cup gold medal and third World Cup medal of the season.
In the men’s two-man bobsled, Spring along with Neville Wright of Edmonton, Alberta posted a winning time of 1:44.17. Kripps and Alexander Kopacz of London, Ontario won the silver medal with a time of 1:44.19. Oskars Melbardis and Daumants Dreiskens of Latvia won the bronze medal with a time of 1:44.26.
Spring and Wright reached the podium by 0.17 seconds and Kripps and Kopacz reached the podium by 0.19 seconds. Alexander Kasjanov and Aleksei Pushkarev of Russia finished in fourth place with a time of 1:44.34.
Spring also moves into second place in the World Cup standings with 577 points. He is 35 points back of Kripps, who leads with 612 points.
In the women’s bobsled, Humphries and Melissa Lotholz of Barrhead, Alberta, won the gold medal in Whistler with a time of 1:46.67. Jamie Greubel Poser and Aja Evans of the United States won silver with a time of 1:47.15. Elana Meyers Taylor and Kehri Jones of the United States won bronze with a time of 1:47.50. Humphries and Lotholz reached the podium by 1.01 seconds over Mariama Jamanka and Sarah Noll of Germany, who finished in fourth place with a time of 1:47.68.
Humphries now has 660 World Cup points (also won in Lake Placid, New York and finished second in Park City, Utah this year). She has 33 more points than Greubel Poser.