Elana Meyers Taylor of the U.S. got her first World Cup women’s bobsled win in nearly three years on Sunday, her 19th career victory on the circuit.
She teamed with Lake Kwaza to finish two runs in 1 minute, 41.88 seconds. The British sled driven by Mica McNeill and pushed by Adele Nicoll was second in 1:42.10, and Canada’s team of Christine de Bruin and Kristen Bujnowski was third in 1:42.12.
Meyers Taylor and Kwaza were tied with the Russian sled of Nadezhda Sergeeva and Yulia Belomestnykh after the first heat. But the Russians crashed in their second run, finishing 15th.
Francesko Friedrich and Thorsten Margis of Germany start their first run of the two-man Bobsleigh World Cup race in Sigulda, Latvia, Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022. (AP PhotoRoman Koksarov)
It was Meyers Taylor’s first women’s World Cup bobsled win in her last 11 starts, her most recent victory coming in February 2019 at the Americans’ home track in Lake Placid, New York. That doesn’t include her three wins in the Women’s Monobob World Series — one person in the sled — this season.
Kwaza won a World Cup gold for the second time; her other was in that Lake Placid race with Meyers Taylor in 2019.
Kaillie Humphries, the other U.S. women’s pilot on the World Cup circuit this season, took the weekend off to extend her holiday break.
Francesko Friedrich and Thorsten Margis of Germany start their first run of the two-man Bobsleigh World Cup race in Sigulda, Latvia, Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022. (AP PhotoRoman Koksarov)
TWO-MAN
Francesco Friedrich’s losing streak is over — after one race.
A day after his 21-race World Cup winning streak came to an end in a stunning 12th-place finish, the German star bounced back to get a narrow victory in a two-man event. Friedrich teamed with Thorsten Margis to win in 1:39.16, barely holding off the British sled of Brad Hall and Nick Gleeson.
Elana Meyers Taylor and Lake Kwaza of United States speed down the track during their first run of the two-woman Bobsleigh World Cup race in Sigulda, Latvia, Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022. (AP PhotoRoman Koksarov)
Hall and Gleeson were second in 1:39.22. Oskars Kibermanis and Matiss Miknis of Latvia were third in 1:39.71.
Codie Bascue and Hakeem Abdul-Saboor were the top U.S. sled, finishing tied for 10th. Hunter Church and Josh Williamson were 16th for the Americans.
There were no four-man races in Sigulda this weekend.
UP NEXT
The World Cup bobsled and skeleton circuit has just two stops left, the first of those coming next weekend in Winterberg, Germany. The World Cup season ends Jan. 15-16 in St. Moritz, Switzerland, before sliders head to China for the Beijing Olympics in February.
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