SIGULDA, Latvia – Toronto’s Cynthia Appiah captured a bronze medal Saturday in the final World Cup monobob race of the season.
Appiah, 32, finished tied with China’s Qing Ying with a two-run time of one minute 47.10 seconds. American Kaillie Humphries finished first in 1:46.52 while Germany’s Kim Kalicki was second in 1:46.96.
“I missed out on racing here last year due to the COVID outbreak on our team,” Appiah said. “So I came in with some trepidation and I also didn’t have the greatest training week,.
“Sigulda is more of a luge and skeleton track, so it is much harder to navigate in a bobsled. My goal was to have as clean of a run as possible because I knew my starts, coupled with my decent runs, would lead me to the podium.”
Appiah was quick off the start in both runs (5.62 and 5.60 seconds) but had difficulty perfecting the bottom portion of the track.
“I knew I had what it took to win the race, but the mistake I made out of corner 15 on both runs caused me to lose a lot of time,” Appiah said. “Hopefully the tour returns here in the coming years.
“The track is similar to Lake Placid and Altenberg — two tracks that I enjoy driving and suit my driving style.”
Appiah also finished third in the overall World Cup standings, registering a silver and four bronze medals over eight races.
“It has been a challenging season, but sliding has been fun overall and I found the fun that been missing for me these last few years,” she said. “It has reignited my passion for driving again.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 18., 2023.
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