Canadians Humphries, Lotholz win bobsleigh gold in Germany

The Canadian bobsleigh duo of Kaillie Humphries and Melissa Lotholz easily took home gold on Friday in Altenberg, Germany, finishing ahead of second place by more than a half second.

The Calgary duo, who were racing together for the first time this season, built on a strong first run en route an overall time of one minute 54.15 seconds. The American pair of Elana Meyers Taylor and Kehri Jones finished 0.7 seconds behind the Canadians.

"I didn't drive perfectly. There were a couple of little mistakes here and there, but at the end of the day I was happy with it," said the 31-year-old Humphries. "We had some timing issues on our first push, but we sorted that out, got our timing on point and gained it on the second run."

Humphries spoke about the pleasure she has competing in Altenberg.

"I really like this track. Next to Whistler it is one of my favourite in the world. I have had great results here and I have a good feeling for it," said Humphries.

"I don't know what it is exactly. I like driving and being in control. On the harder tracks there is more skill required, and you need to be on it all the time. Your focus needs to be there 100 per cent."

Austrians Christina Hengster and Sanne Dekker captured bronze in 1:54.93.

The victory was the 31-year-old Humphries' second this season, and she reached the podium for the third time.

Humphries and Lotholz won the World Cup overall title last season after reaching the podium in every World Cup race.

During the first run, British duo Mica McNeill and Mica Moore crashed, with Moore falling out of the sled. Luckily, neither seemed to be injured in the incident. They were disqualified because of the crash. 

Men's bobsleigh and skeleton will go live Saturday on CBCSports.ca and the CBCSports App. You can catch full coverage Saturday at 4 p.m. ET during Road to the Olympic Games on CBC-TV and CBCSports.ca.