Addition of monobob event brings new wrinkle to bobsleigh at Beijing Olympics
Plus everything else you need to know about the sliding sport
A new discipline is sliding into the bobsleigh track at the Beijing Olympics.
Women's monobob — a single-woman sled event — joins the two-man, two-woman and four-man races at the Olympics, helping to narrow the gender gap and increase the excitement at the National Sliding Centre in Yanqing, a district of Beijing.
Canada earned two entries in monobob, with Cynthia Appiah and Christine de Bruin, ranked third and fourth in the discipline, respectively, setting their eyes on the podium.
Appiah, 31, won four medals on the monobob World Series this season, split evenly between silver and bronze.
The Toronto-born athlete is making her Olympic debut after serving as an alternate brakeman at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games — something she told CBC News was a motivating factor in her career after she expected to be on the main roster.
The 32-year-old de Bruin, meanwhile, reached only half as many podiums as Appiah on the season — but she made them count, taking gold in back-to-back races in December and January.
Beijing will mark her second Olympics as a pilot after finishing seventh in the two-woman alongside brakeman Melissa Lotholtz, who now pilots her own sled, in Pyeongchang.
Appiah and de Bruin's biggest competition in monobob will come in the form of two Americans: top-ranked Elana Meyers Taylor and second-ranked Kaillie Humphries. Both Americans tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of these Olympics, but were eventually cleared to compete.
WATCH | Humphries edges Appiah in World Cup monobob race:
Meyers Taylor is a force, ranking first in monobob thanks to four gold medals and one silver.
But it's Humphries that commands the attention. The 36-year-old, born in Calgary, competed for Canada at each of the last three Winter Olympics, winning two gold medals and one bronze in the process.
Following the 2018 Games, Humphries sued for her release from the Canadian team over allegations of harassment against a coach. She was granted her wish by Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton in September 2019, and eventually received American citizenship in December 2021.
But Upperton said Humphries isn't as dominant now as she was at her peak.
"We've usually seen her basically on the podium almost every week, and this year has not been like that. So is she still a strong medal contender? For sure. But I don't think it's as big of, almost a given, as it was four years ago," she said.
WATCH | Humphries becomes world champion as American:
Meyers Taylor and Humphries might stand as de Bruin and Appiah's biggest barriers to the podium in the two-woman, where Lotholtz is also entered.
However, it's a pair of Germans — Laura Nolte and Kim Kalicki — ranked between Meyers Taylor in first and de Bruin in fourth. Humphries is right behind in fifth, while Lotholtz sits 13th and Appiah 14th.
Kripps aims for more gold
On the men's side, Canada's medal hopes rest mainly with Justin Kripps, who shared Olympic two-man gold with Germany's Francesco Friedrich in 2018.
Kripps heads to Beijing hoping to repeat that performance while adding a podium appearance in the four-man. The Summerland, B.C., native ranks second in each discipline.
Kripps, the 35-year-old veteran of three Olympics, said he's attempting to impart some wisdom onto his crew.
"I have this motto or mindset that I always try to keep in mind, and that's to show up to the start line at the Games, knowing that you've done everything you possibly could to give yourself the best chance you can have in the race," he said.
WATCH | Kripps featured in CBC Sports' 'Returning Champions' series:
To repeat as champion, he must overcome Friedrich, the top racer in both the two-man and four-man. The 31-year-old German pilot won seven of eight races across both events on the World Cup tour this season and was victorious in each of the last four world championships.
But Upperton said there may be reason to believe he's beatable.
"The entire World Cup circuit was predominantly in Germany, which gives the Germans a massive advantage," she said.
"Francesco has the fastest start. It's hard to say what is the one factor that would make the difference in the sport of bobsleigh. It's always three things, right? It's how fast can you push? How good is your equipment? And how good is the driver?"
WATCH | Friedrich takes 4-man gold at worlds:
Canada has two other sleds entered in Olympic bobsleigh competition, led by Christopher Spring (12th in two-man, 13th in four-man) and Taylor Austin (30th in two-man, 32nd in four-man).
One other country to watch in the four-man: Jamaica. Yes, nearly 30 years after 'Cool Runnings' and 20 years since the last time the country was represented in the event, the Jamaicans are back.
In all disciplines, athletes are ranked by their combined times across four heats, with the lowest time marking the gold medallist.
The four heats are a departure from the regular World Cup tour, in which podiums are only determined by two.
"The track in China is challenging and technical, and they haven't had a lot of practice there — any of the countries. So it's going to kind of come down to who figures it out the quickest," Upperton said.
Action from the National Sliding Centre begins on Feb. 13 with monobob and runs through Feb. 20, ending with the four-man.
