Germany's Nolte wins Olympic women's bobsleigh gold, Canada's de Bruin 5th

A poor start in her third run was enough to distance Christine de Bruin from the lead pack and eventually leave the Canadian and brakewoman Kristen Bujnowski off the medal podium in Olympic bobsleigh on Saturday.

They rebounded with a quicker start in the fourth and final run but recorded a slower finish, placing fifth in a combined time of four minutes 6.37 seconds in the two-woman event at Yanqing National Sliding Centre.

"I'm just really proud of us. This experience really shows we're a strong team," de Bruin of Stony Plain, Alta., told CBC Sports. "If one of us messed up, it didn't matter, [we] just [kept] going at it. We're fighters, and that's nice."

De Bruin, 32, was nearly a second behind fellow pilot Elana Meyers Taylor of the United States, who clocked 4:05.48 for bronze with first-time Olympian Sylvia Hoffman and collected her fourth career medal in the event.

Meyers Taylor is now the most decorated Black Winter Olympian after capturing monobob silver on Monday. Five medals is two more than any other Olympic bobsledder, male or female, has won for the U.S.

"That is overwhelming," the 37-year-old said. "It's so crazy to hear that stat and know that I'm part of a legacy that's bigger than me."

Germany's Laura Nolte won gold in 4:03.96, followed by teammate Mariama Jamanka (4:04.73), the 2018 Olympic champion.

WATCH | Nolte wins 2-woman gold after narrowly missing monobob podium:

Germany now has eight gold in nine events and 14 medals overall in the three sliding sports at the Beijing Olympics. The Germans will likely add to that on the final day since they have the top two sleds at the midpoint of the four-man competition that will end Sunday. They already have more gold, and more medals, in sliding events than any nation ever has at any Olympics.

American Kaillie Humphries, who won two-woman Olympic gold sliding for Canada in 2010 and 2014, was seventh on Saturday in 4:07.04 after winning Monday's monobob, which made its Winter Games debut in China.

Humphries reportedly was battling a right leg injury that adversely impacted her start times with Olympic rookie Kaysha Love.

"It hurts, I won't lie," Humphries said. "I gave every ounce of everything I had to the last two days and it wasn't there. We can't be fearful of not being the best."

Humphries plans to miss the next one or two seasons to start a family and insisted Saturday she would race at one final Olympics in 2026.

Toronto native Cynthia Appiah (4:07.52) finished eighth after starting the day in that position while Melissa Lotholz of Barrhead, Alta., climbed four spots to 12th in a time of 4:08.37 with Sara Villani.

A tough third run by de Bruin extended to Appiah, who cleaned up some early mistakes and had a good entrance into the 12th of 16 corners before avoiding serious injury after hitting the left wall and tipping her sled.

WATCH | Appiah crashes in 3rd run coming out of 13th curve:

Appiah, who exited the sled under her own power along with brakewoman Dawn Richardson Wilson, was given a 1:01.95 finish time.

Appiah also hit the wall in the same spot, coming out of the 13th curve, in her final run but had a clean finish to her Olympic debut after being an alternate four years ago. The 31-year-old former track and field athlete was ready to quit bobsleigh after leaving Pyeongchang, South Korea, but pressed on and transitioned to being a pilot on the track.

Meanwhile, de Bruin and Bujnowski couldn't make up for slowness at the top of the track in their third run. Their last run in Beijing included a faster start, a hit wall on the ninth curve and too much height on others.

Earlier this season, Graham Richardson, team manager and technical driver coach for Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton, noticed improved physical ability from the duo.

"Christine had a tendency when running fast behind the sled to have a shorter stride length that would kill her velocity," Richardson said of de Bruin, who placed seventh with Lotholz at the 2018 Olympics after missing the 2014 Games with a back injury. "In her general training, she's worked at making sure the steps are more powerful. Her start times are getting better but, more importantly, the velocity's getting better.

"Christine knows when to get in the sled to let Buj accelerate. It's so technically difficult to get into the sled [to] add velocity, but working with Jamie McCartney, our push coach, they have improved a great deal."

However, a 5.51-second start in the third run was de Bruin and Bujnowski's downfall on Saturday as Meyers Taylor set a start record of 5.30 to extend her lead over the Canadians to 72-100ths of a second.

De Bruin and Bujnowski were quicker off the start in the fourth run (5.45-5.35) but too far behind Meyers Taylor, who topped this season's World Cup standings.

WATCH | 5th-place de Bruin improves 2 spots from 2018 Olympics:

Bujnowski said she learned more about herself at these Games and how to better handle stressful situations.

"I feel really confident going forward and racing because I think we can accomplish a lot," said Bujnowski, while de Bruin nodded in approval.

We can look at each other and know what we're thinking. The communication is strong, and we really are a team.— Canadian bobsleigh pilot Christine de Bruin

Talk of de Bruin and Bujnowski as serious medal contenders at these Games increased after they earned four bronze in eight World Cup starts this season to follow a bronze performance at a Beijing test event in October.

The world's fourth-ranked tandem clicked early following the return of Bujnowski, who sat out last season because of COVID-19 restrictions after straining her right calf. The 29-year-old from Mount Brydges, Ont., showed little rust in lowering the women's push record to 5.36 seconds at Calgary's Ice House before the Olympic test event.

De Bruin and Bujnowski had a 2018-19 breakthrough season featuring two World Cup silver and world championship bronze. A year later, they added another World Cup silver and world bronze.

"We can look at each other and know what we're thinking," de Bruin said. "The communication is strong, and we really are a team. It's not just the pilot telling the brakeman what to do."

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.