Canadians kept off monobob, 2-man bobsleigh podiums in Austria

Canadian sleds came close to taking home medals from the first World Cup bobsleigh events of the season, but left empty handed on Saturday.

The U.S. claimed gold and silver in women's monobob with Elana Meyers Taylor and Kaillie Humphries finishing first and second for the U.S., while Germany's Laura Nolte was third.

Canadians Cynthia Appiah, of Toronto, and Melissa Lotholz, of Barrhead, Alta., were fourth and fifth, respectively.

"Consistency will be the key for me to jump onto the podium," Appiah said. "My pushes are so dynamic that I can create insurmountable leads, but the consistency is what will secure the win.

"Things are still tracking in the right direction. I'm still learning and developing as a pilot, but I'm consistently in the top-10 which isn't something many can say as a young driver."

In the two-man race Saturday, Francesco Friedrich of Germany started the Olympic season with yet another win. Friedrich has finished no worse than second in any of his last 33 World Cup two-man races, winning gold 26 times and silver in the other seven.

Johannes Lochner of Germany drove to the silver and Brad Hall of Great Britain got the bronze.

Canada's Justin Kripps, of Summerland, B.C., and Cam Stones, of Whitby, Ont., finished just off the podium, 0.64 seconds behind Lochner for a fourth-place finish.

"I'm happy with this result because I haven't had much success in the two-man here in Igls," Kripps said. "Knocking on the door of the podium is a good sign for us. Cam produced some greats which helps here a lot.

"I made more than .01 seconds of mistakes down the track so we're definitely capable of hitting the podium if we clean it all up."

The first World Cup bobsleigh weekend of the season ends Sunday with the four-man race and women's bobsleigh events, which you can watch live on CBCSports.ca.