Rissling wins first World Cup bobsleigh medal at Olympic test event
Alysia Rissling capped her first full World Cup season with her first World Cup podium, winning bronze with Cynthia Appiah at the PyeongChang 2018 test event.
Rissling and Appiah had been in fourth place after their first competitive run down the Alpensia Sliding Centre track, but moved onto the podium with the second fastest second run for a total time of 1 minute 44.06 seconds. American sleds piloted by Jamie Greubel Poser (1:43.65) and Elana Meyers Taylor (1:43.80) took the top two spots on the podium.
Third placed Canada’s Cynthia Appiah, back, and Alysia Rissling react after the second run of the women’s competition for the Bobsleigh World Cup at the Alpensia Sliding Centre in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Saturday, March 18, 2017. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Kaillie Humphries and Melissa Lotholz finished in fifth place on Saturday, but that was enough to secure the two-time Olympic champion second place in the overall World Cup standings, just behind Greubel Poser. Humphries had five podium finishes in eight World Cup races this season, with Lotholz and Appiah splitting brakeman duties.
Rissling had come close to the podium earlier in the season, finishing fourth in Whistler and fifth in Lake Placid, with Lotholz and Genevieve Thibault as her brakemen.
The men’s two-man event on Saturday also had a pleasant surprise for Canada, as Nick Poloniato finished fourth with Lascelles Brown. He had not cracked the top-10 in any other World Cup race this season, but did open a few eyes with his fifth place finish in the two-man at the world championships last month in Konigssee with brakeman Neville Wright.
The Olympic test event and bobsleigh season concludes on Sunday with the four-man event.
