Canadians Kaillie Humphries and Helen Upperton won gold and silver respectively in the women’s two-man bobsleigh final on Wednesday at the Vancouver Olympic Games.
Calgarian Humphries and pusher Heather Moyse, of Summerside, P.E.I., led the four heats from start to finish and would never move from the first place. The Canada-1 sled broke the track record three times during the event and finished with a combined time of 3:32.28.
“To be honest it hasn’t even set in yet,” Humphries told CTV. “It’s freaking amazing. I am so happy right now, you have no idea. I can’t even describe it, I really can’t even believe it myself.”
Moyse, also a rugby player, participated in Torino 2006 as Upperton’s pusher, finishing in fourth place, 0.05 seconds away of winning bronze.
“As Kaillie was saying, it hasn’t quite set in yet. When it does, I’ll be bawling,” said Moyse. “But five one hundredths away from the podium is what made me come back to bobsledding, so I guess I’ve got to be thankful for that five one hundredths, because a gold in home country with Kaillie is better than a bronze would have been in Torino.”
Calgary’s Upperton and Shelley-Ann Brown, of Scarborough, Ont., were fourth coming into the last two heats, but consistent and fast times moved them to second position.
“So many people own a piece of this medal,” said Upperton. “I wish I could break it into like a thousand pieces and give it to all the people that helped us, because no Olympic medallist gets here by themselves, and we are very lucky to have so many people helping us.”
Upperton had the fastest run of the day in the final heat and ended with a time of 3:33.13. Americans Erin Pac and Elana Meyers took the bronze, 0.27 seconds behind Canada-2.
The one-two finish represents the first medals in the history of Canadian women’s bobsleigh.
Always favourites German teams had a rough day at the Whistler Sliding Centre.
Sandra Kiriasis, gold medalist in Torino and current world champion, could not meet her expectations and finished fourth. While Cathleen Martini and Romy Logsch were 0.03 seconds away from Upperton, however, the German athletes crashed and got disqualified.