Kaillie Humphries, Melissa Lotholz win World Cup bobsled silver
Humphries leads the World Cup series at the halfway point of schedule
Canada's Kaillie Humphries and Melissa Lotholz finished second in a women's World Cup bobsled event Friday in Lake Placid, N.Y.
Americans Jamie Greubel-Poser and Cherelle Garrett won the event in one minute, 53.48 seconds after posting the fastest time in both runs. Humphries, of Calgary, and Lotholz, of Barrhead, Alta., were second in 1:53.91.
"It's meaningful to win this week," Greubel-Poser said, "for a lot of reasons."
Austrians Christina Hengster and Sanne Monique Dekker were third in 1:54.30.
It was Greubel-Poser's second win of the season and third overall. She closed within 10 points of Humphries for the overall series lead at the halfway point of the eight-race World Cup schedule.
On Saturday Humphries will lead the first all-woman, four-person crew in a World Cup competition.
"Tomorrow will be exciting," Humphries said. "Definitely going to be challenging. We've done two runs together and these girls have slid down together only two runs in their entire lives. It'll be fun and it'll be the start of something new."
The sheer physics put Humphries at a huge disadvantage for Saturday. The men's sleds will carry somewhere around 300 pounds more than her sled will, meaning they will generate far more momentum — based on added mass and velocity.
"We want to go out and win, yes," Humphries said. "The chance of us doing that is going to be 0.001 per cent. At the end of the day, we're kind of racing in a league of our own."
Emotional race
Friday's silver medal performance was an emotional one for Humphries, following the passing of Malcolm "Gomer" Lloyd five days pervious. The internationally renowned bobsleigh coach taught Humphries how to drive in Lake Placid in March of 2006.
"Looking back at all the videos and stories from everyone this week, it has been very hard on all of us. He was a familiar face that affected all of the athletes and coaches regardless of what nation you are from so it is hard," Humphries said. "Gomer was the one who brought me down here to drive in Placid. It may sound ridiculous, but even today when I get nervous or panicky, I always think back to coming here with Gomer that first time and what he told me 'Look where you are going!' It calms me down every time.
"It is so sad he is not here with us. He was so instrumental for getting women's bobsleigh started and it would have been cool for him to see us women race the four-man tomorrow. I owe a huge portion of my success in bobsleigh to Gomer and will never forget him."
With files from CBC Sports