Humphries, Valois Golden at Worlds
Kaillie Humphries of Calgary, AB, and Chelsea Valois of Zenon Park, SK have done it again and this time on the biggest non-Olympic stage by capturing gold in a four-run time of 4:30.31 at the Bobsleigh World Championships today in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
Humphries beat out American pilot Elana Meyers by 0.68 seconds. Multiple world champion Sandra Kiriasis claimed bronze.
Humphries, the 2010 Olympic gold medallist, extended her remarkable podium streak to 12-straight events with the last nine medals captured with her rookie brakeman Valois.
“I’m ecstatic,” beamed Humphries at the finish line. “Our goal all year was to win World Championships and we did it. This is the perfect end to a great season and to do it in St. Moritz is the ultimate for any bobsledder.
Courtesy Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton
“People don’t understand what this place means to us athletes. It is the birthplace of our sport and the longest track in the world that demands experience and skill so it means the world to me to win the World Championships here.”
The victory marks Humphries second consecutive gold medal at Worlds after she became the first Canadian woman to capture a world title after she finished in first place in 2012 with Jennifer Ciochetti on the breaks.
The podium finish lines the duo up nicely for the next competition at the Sochi World Cup test event where competitors will get their first taste of the track they will slide on at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.
“We learned last week that every hundredth-of-a-second matters so we just wanted to focus on pushing as hard as we could and not hold anything back,” said Valois. “I’m overwhelmed. It is feels amazing and has been quite a year for sure.”
