Bobsled bronze for Canadians Christine de Bruin and Kristen Bujnowski

Article content material

Canadian bobsled pilot Christine de Bruin and brakewoman Kristen Bujnowski actually pushed their means on to the rostrum on the ultimate day of a take a look at occasion on the Beijing Olympics sliding observe.

Article content material

De Bruin and Bujnowski rode a pair of 5.39-second begin occasions — second quickest within the first run and quickest within the second — to a bronze medal behind a pair of German groups in two-woman bobsled motion on Tuesday on the Yanqing Nationwide Sliding Centre. The Canadians’ two-run time of two:05.38 left them .39 seconds behind gold medallists Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi, and simply .17 seconds behind silver medallists Mariama Jamanka and Vanessa Mark.

“I’m loving this observe,” stated de Bruin, who was additionally fourth in Monday’s monobob race. “It has been so enjoyable figuring it out. It has confirmed to be a mix of a driver’s observe and a push observe.”

Earlier than arriving in Beijing three weeks in the past, Bujnowski lowered the ladies’s Ice Home push document in Calgary from 5.39 seconds to five.36, and Tuesday’s outcomes affirm her worldwide dominance initially line.

Article content material

“It’s an incredible begin to the season,” she stated. “I knew our pushes had been getting higher, however I used to be not anticipating the second and quickest begin occasions right this moment. Christine and I’ve each improved bodily, however this outcome reveals the worth of regularly pushing collectively for a few years now. We actually consider in one another, and I feel we will count on a terrific season.”

They teamed up in 2019 and have gained a handful of World Cup and World championship medals. Bujnowski, who’s from London, Ont., missed final 12 months with an harm. Collectively once more, they need to be a power by way of this season and experience a wave of momentum into the Olympics.

“I had a tough time final 12 months. Buj wasn’t in a position to be part of us on Tour, and with COVID, it simply didn’t seem to be something would go our means,” stated de Bruin, a Stony Plain, Alta., native. “To have her again, and to push the quickest time of the day, reveals there’s a whole lot of good things to return this season. It’s a lengthy season, so this is only one of many benchmarks to examine off in our total targets.”

Article content material

Pilot Melissa Lotholz of Barrhead, Alta. and brakewoman Erica Voss of Etobicoke, Ont., had been sixth, Cynthia Appiah of Toronto and Daybreak Richardson Wilson of Edmonton seventh.

Former Canadian pilot Kaillie Humphries, now competing for the USA, was disqualified for having an obese sled.

In four-man motion, pilot Justin Kripps of Summerland, B.C. drove his workforce of Ryan Sommer (White Rock, B.C.), Cam Stones (Whitby, Ont.) and Ben Coakwell (Saskatoon) to a fourth-place end.

German sleds took the highest two steps of the rostrum as Francesco Friedrich, Thorsten Margis, Sweet Bauer and Alexander Schueller grabbed gold, with Johannes Lochner, Christopher Weber, Georg Fleischhauer, and Christian Rasp within the silver spot. Latvia’s Oskars Kibermanis, Davis Springis, Matiss Miknis and Krists Lindenblats claimed the bronze medal, simply .13 seconds sooner than Kripps and crew.

“Our objective going into each race is to battle for a spot on the rostrum, so strolling away with a fourth-place end isn’t precisely what we had hoped for,” Sommer stated. “We had three actually strong weeks of coaching right here on the brand new observe, and we had been in a position to put together and develop a recreation plan for the primary occasion right here later in February that we consider will result in success when the time comes.”

Pilot Chris Spring of Calgary drove his workforce of Sam Giguere (Sherbrooke, Que.), Cyrus Grey (Duncan, B.C.) and Mike Evelyn (Ottawa) to twelfth spot within the 18-sled subject.