Canada's Appiah 5th in women's monobob, American Humphries wins gold
North York, Ont., native Appiah sits 3rd in overall rankings after German event
Canada's Cynthia Appiah secured a top-five finish in the women's monobob competition at the IBSF World Cup in Altenburg, Germany, on Saturday. Meanwhile, American Kaillie Humphries won her second consecutive race on the German track, finishing with a two-heat combined time of two minutes and 0.61 seconds.
Lora Nolte of Germany came in second to Humphries for the second straight week with a time of 2:01.13, and Breeana Walker of Australia claimed bronze, clocking in at 2:01.89.
North York, Ont., native Appiah didn't get the start she wanted on her first run, recording the ninth best time at 1:01.52.
"I'm beyond disappointed with myself over how I performed in the first run, said Appiah to Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton. "I underestimated how hard the ice was. It was very different from training, and that, coupled with errors on every corner made for the worst run I've put down."
However, she salvaged her day in the second heat with a time of 1:00.90. That time was a better mark than any run outside of Humphries and Nolte across either heat, and allowed her to finish with a total time of 2:02.42.
WATCH | Appiah, Ribi compete in monobob in Germany:
"That's not the kind of performance I wanted to put down but that's sport for you," said Appiahto Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton. "I'm happy that I battled back and I'm looking forward to cleaning it up for tomorrow, and the keeping momentum for the World Championships."
Fellow Canadian Bianca Ribi's day mirrored those results.
Ribi did regain control to the point where she was able to get her bobsled back on track, but the damage was already done and she recorded the slowest time of the day at 1:05.07, bringing her total to 2:06.38 for a 14th-place finish.
The 26-year-old still holds onto a top-five spot in the overall standings with 985 points thanks in large part due to her gold-medal performance in Whistler, B.C., in November, while Appiah sits in third with 1,106 points.
Humphries and Nolte hold the top two spots with 1,295 and 1,230 points respectively.
Canadians finish 17th in 2-man
Later in the day, Canada's Taylor Austin and Cyrus Gray finished 17th in the two-man bobsleigh event.
Lethbridge, Alta., native Austin and Gray of Duncan, B.C., recorded a total time of 1:53.58 across two heats, 2.08 seconds back of gold medallists Johannes Lochner and Erec Bruckert of Germany.
WATCH | Germany race to the top on home soil:
This marks the fifth straight world cup race Lochner has won gold, while countrymate Francesco Friedrich - alongside partner Alexander Schueller - took bronze for the second straight week on home ice, with a total time of 1:51.88.
The Swiss duo Michael Vogt and Sandro Michel claimed silver, finishing just 0.05 back of top spot.
Action continues on Sunday in Altenberg with the four-man and women's bobsleigh events.
Men's and women's skeleton and bobsleigh athletes are back in action next Thursday at the world championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland, while the next World Cup event is scheduled to begin on Feb. 10 in Innsbruck, Austria.
