Cynthia Appiah wins monobob World Cup bronze in Utah
Toronto native finishes behind gold medallist Kaillie Humphries of U.S.
Toronto's Cynthia Appiah slid to a bronze medal in the women's monobob event at a World Cup event in Park City, Utah on Friday.
The 32-year-old finished behind American gold medallist Kaillie Humphries, while Germany's Lisa Buckwitz took silver.
Winnipeg's Bianca Ribi finished 0.75 seconds back of a spot on the podium, ending up in seventh place. Ribi won gold last weekend at the World Cup opener in Whistler, B.C. Appiah won silver in the same event.
Appiah waited anxiously while Germany's Laura Nolte executed her final run, jumping for joy when Nolte crossed the finish line 0.01 seconds behind the Canadian, securing a spot on the podium for Appiah.
WATCH | Appiah races to bronze:
Appiah finished just 0.02 seconds back of Buckwitz for silver, and was 0.33 seconds back of Olympic champion Humphries on the day.
The eighth-place finisher in the event at the 2022 Olympics had her work cut out for her after a first run of 51.81 left her in fifth spot, but made up for it in her final run.
Humphries and Appiah were the only women to put together a run under 51.50 seconds. The Canadian's second run of the day clocked in at 51.45 while Humphries put together a time of 51.27 to close out her gold medal-winning run.
Friedrich captures gold in 2-man bobsleigh
In the two-man race later Friday, Germany's Francesco Friedrich rallied in the second heat for his 63rd victory in his last 76 major international races.
Entering the second run, Friedrich and Thorsten Margis trailed the sled driven by Great Britain's Brad Hall by 0.15 seconds, then posted a time that was 0.41 seconds better than Hall in that heat.
The German duo are the reigning Olympic champions in the event.
Hall took second and the sled piloted by Switzerland's Michael Vogt was third.
Canada's Taylor Austin teamed up with Shaquille Murray-Lawrence to earn a ninth-place finish in 1:37.13.
Murray-Lawrence, 29, is a former CFL running back.
Austin piloted a four-man sled with Murray-Lawrence, Cyrus Gray and Davidson De Souza to bronze last week in snowy Whistler.
Watch live coverage of the rest of this weekend's events in Park City on CBCSports.ca, CBC Gem and the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android.
WATCH | IBSF World Cup Park City: Men's 2-man bobsleigh — heat 2:
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With files from The Associated Press
