Canadian Kaillie Humphries wins 7th straight bobsled event
Lyndon Rush takes bronze in the two-man event
Canadians bobsledders continued their World Cup dominance after Kaillie Humphries and Chelsea Valois won the women’s two-man event in Germany, while Lyndon Rush and Jesse Lumsdem took bronze for the men.
Calgary's Humphries extended her streak to seven consecutive wins after clocking 1:54.05. Elana Meyers and Katie Eberling of the United States finished second with a time of 1:54.15, while German team of Anja Schneiderheinze and Stephanie Schneider took bronze (1:54.19).
"I am very happy to keep the streak going in Germany," said Humphries. "I think that was very important for me. I haven’t always had a lot of success in Winterberg because it is so weather dependent here. The weather was perfect and we had good pushes and good runs today."
The 27-year-old has now won her last seven races on piloting Canada 1 sled, including the first three this year with rookie Chelsea Valois. The victory was Humphries' eighth career World Cup gold.
"I had a lot of confidence going into the race, but the weather can can change everything," added Humphries. "Chelsea and I had two of our best starts to go along with two good runs down the track so I’m happy with how things turned out."
Edmonton's Jenny Ciochetti and Calgary's Kate O’Brien finished 12th in the Canada 2 sled at 1:54.74.
Men slide into broze
Rush, native of Humboldt, Sask., finished with a time of 1:51.41 to take third place in the men’s two-man race. Switzerland's Beat Hefti and Tomas Lamparter won gold in 1:51.01, Alexander Zubkov and Dmitry Trunenkov of Russia captured silver(1:51.32).
"We normally find the Winterberg track really difficult, but our runs worked out really well today," said Rush. "I'd like to say a big thank you to my whole team."
It was the fourth two-man and eighth overall World Cup medal for the 32-year-old, who teamed up with brakeman Jesse Lumsdem, of Burlington, Ont.
Canada 2 team Chris Spring and Ben Coakwell finished 10th after stopping the clock at 1:52.15.
Justin Kripps and Hamilton Tiger-Cat Sam Giguere ended in the 12th place at 1:52.26.