ALTENBERG, Germany (AP) — Kaillie Humphries won a World Cup women’s monobob race for the 100th medal of her career in major international competition and Canada's Cynthia Appiah took bronze.
Humphries has won 70 medals in two-woman races in her career; 60 in World Cups, seven at the world championships and three at the Olympics.
She’s won another 11 medals in monobob events — including Olympic gold at Beijing last year — plus 10 more on the North American Cup circuit and nine medals in team competitions.
Humphries competed for Canada until 2019 and won a pair of Olympic gold medals in two-woman bob before switching to the United States in a dispute with the Canadian federation.
Humphries used a blazing second run to finish two heats on Saturday in one minute, 57.92 seconds.
Germany's Laura Nolte was second in 1:58.47, and Toronto's Appiah was third in 1:58.86.
“It feels amazing to be back on the podium again”, said Appiah, who holds the women’s monobob start record at 5.93 in Altenberg.
"My runs weren’t the greatest but it’s a step up from the runs I put down last year during the two World Cups here so I’m taking the little wins as they come.”
Humphries’ winning margin of 0.55 seconds was the largest in a World Cup monobob race this season.
Humphries picked up 225 standings points for the win, which was 15 more than Nolte got for finishing second.
That gave Humphries 1,070 points on the season and 50 more than Nolte in the race for the overall monobob title with three races remaining on the World Cup schedule. Appiah ranks fourth.
Humphries was 0.15 seconds behind Nolte after the first heat.
But her second-heat time of 58.97 seconds beat Nolte’s time by seven-tenths of a second — a huge margin in a sliding sport.
Appiah ranked third after her first run and maintained her position in the second.
She earned her first monobob World Cup medal, a silver, on the 17-corner Altenberg track a year ago.
“This track is a drivers track so you have to be on your toes every step of the way, from the start until the exit of corner nine," the 32-year-old Canadian said. "You are constantly driving and have no breaks."
Appiah collected her third monobob medal this season after taking silver at the season-opener in Whistler, B.C., and bronze the following week in Park City, Utah.
“I’m content with where things are at, but I had hoped my season would be better at this time in the circuit,” said Appiah.
“But it’s a post-Olympic season and I’m constantly evolving in my craft. I’ve had to learn not to be so hard on myself and not expect perfection all of the time.”
In the two-man race later Saturday, Germany’s Johannes Lochner drove to the win in 1:49.20.
Britain’s Brad Hall was second in 1:49.63, and Germany’s Francesco Friedrich drove to third in 1:50.26.
Calgary pilot Austin Taylor and Toronto's Shaq Murray-Lawrence were ninth.
Lochner, Hall and Friedrich all have four medals apiece from the five two-man races so far this season.
Lochner leads the two-man standings with 1,067 points, now 31 clear of Friedrich — the margin was just six entering Saturday — and 53 ahead of Hall.
The two-woman and four-man bobsleigh races are Sunday.
The Associated Press
