ALTENBERG, Germany (AP) — For Kaillie Humphries, this was a win unlike any other.
Capping an unforgettable week, Humphries won a women’s monobob race on Saturday, doing so less than 48 hours after she completed a 12,000-mile round trip from Germany to the United States and finished the process of gaining citizenship.
It was the 44th international victory of her career on various circuits and at various levels, plus her 12th as a member of the U.S. bobsled team — and her first as an American citizen.
“My first win, officially, as an American,” she said on the medals stand, with her hand over her heart, just a few seconds after realizing she had prevailed.
Humphries, a Calgary native, had to rally to get the victory. She finished two runs in 2 minutes, 0.57 seconds — just 0.06 seconds faster than Toronto's Cynthia Appiah, who held the lead after the first heat. Laura Nolte of Germany was third, 0.53 seconds back of Humphries.
The week wasn’t easy: Humphries was in six different beds in six nights and had the halfway-across-the-world trip squeezed in, with her Olympic hopes hinging on the outcome of the citizenship process. She acknowledged Saturday that not knowing if she would be eligible to compete at the Beijing Games had taken a toll.
Without citizenship, Humphries — a three-time Olympic medalist who came to the U.S. team three years after gaining her release from her native Canada — had no path to the Games this winter. Now, she’s going to be a medal favorite.
“I’d wake up and wonder why I’m doing this, days where I lacked motivation,” Humphries said. “When things get hard you start to doubt, and when you don’t have the Olympics as the end goal that you’re fighting for, those doubts creep in. I love what I do, but being able to wake up today and not have the stress of not knowing whether or not I’d be able to compete in the Olympics was a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.”
It was Appiah's first World Cup medal as a pilot.
"To do it on a very daunting track that is definitely one of the most difficult out there just makes it extra special,” she said. “To win a medal on any track means a lot, but to do it in Altenberg where there is a lot of fear behind it for everyone and not as jovial in the start house, is huge. Winning a medal on a hard track against way more experienced pilots means so much.”
Christine de Bruin of Stony Plain, Alta., was fourth and Melissa Lotholz of Barrhead, Alta., was 18th.
In the two-man race later Saturday, Francesco Friedrich of Germany rallied to win again and extend his streak to 35 consecutive World Cup two-man races with a medal.
Friedrich and Alexander Schueller were only third after the first heat, then had a blistering second run and prevailed in 1:49.96. Johannes Lochner and Christopher Weber were second for Germany in 1:50.20 and the Russian sled of Rostislav Gaitiukevich and Mikhail Mordasov was third in 1:50.23.
Chris Spring of Vancouver and Mike Evelyn of Ottawa were fourth. Justin Kripps of Summerland, B.C., and Ryan Sommer of White Rock, B.C., were sixth.
Friedrich now has 66 medals — 51 gold, 11 silver, four bronze — in his last 70 major international two- and four-man races including World Cup events, the Olympics and the world championships.
For the U.S. men, Hunter Church and Charlie Volker finished 18th, while Codie Bascue and Hakeem Abdul-Saboor were 23rd.
Competition continues Sunday with the women’s race and the four-man event.
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With files from The Canadian Press.
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The Associated Press
