Kaillie Humphries wins silver at world bobsleigh championships

Canadian bobsleigh icon Kaillie Humphries and teammate Melissa Lotholz won silver at the world bobsleigh championships in Igls, Austria, Saturday.

The pair slid to a four-run combined time of three minutes, 32.71 seconds – 0.33 seconds behind the golden German pair of Anja Schneiderheinze and Annika Drazek. Both teams bested defending champions Elana Meyers Taylor and Lauren Gibbs from the United States, who finished 0.49 behind the Germans for bronze.

"I'm not going to lie, I like being on top of the podium but at the end of the day I'm pretty happy with the way we performed the last two days," said Humphries. "We did everything we could, and followed everything that was planned heading into the race so it is a good feeling knowing we left it all out there. We have to be extremely happy with the silver medal knowing there was nothing more we could do on the day."

The pair has now hit the podium in eight straight competitions this season. It was the 23-year-old Lotholz's first world championship medal in her two seasons competing with Humphries.

The Germans took a wire-to-wire win, setting a track record time of 52.94 in their opening run. It was Schneiderheinze's first world championship win as a driver. They continued to stretch their lead through the next two heats and also recorded the fastest start time of the competition, important for the short track.

Germans win with faster starts

"I am kind of neutral with the track in Igls. I enjoy it, but it is also not my favourite at the end of the day," said Humphries. "It is definitely a starters track where I tend to like the more challenging tracks. I have always had one of the fastest starts in the world and we were right there again today. The Germans were just a little better."

Humphries is a two-time Olympic gold medallist and won at the world championships in 2012 and 2013.

Other Canadian pairs of Alyssia Rissling and Julia Corrente, and Christine De Bruin and Cynthia Appiah finished 13th and 16th, respectively.

The bobsleigh world championships continues Sunday.