Canadian bobsledders win silver

THE CANADIAN PRESS

KOENIGSSEE, Germany -- Canada's Kaillie Humphries and Emily Baadsvik raced to a silver medal Friday in a women's bobsled World Cup event.

Humphries, from Calgary, and Baadsvik, a rookie brakeman from St. Stephen, N.B., finished with a two-run combined time of one minute 44.10 seconds.

"It felt good today," Humphries said. "Training went well all week and I like this track a lot so was happy to be back and get on the podium. I like the way it feels and the feeling I get in my hands. I think I've figured out how to drive here and it just seems to work for me."

The podium finish was the second for the Canadian duo this season, and comes just a week after the entire Canadian bobsled team pulled out of a World Cup in Altenberg, Germany, after a serious crash that sent three athletes to hospital.

"We were definitely motivated and happy to be racing again after an emotional week, and just wanted to be strong for the boys on Team Spring," Humphries said.

Pilot Chris Spring of Calgary was hospitalized with deep cuts, bruises and a broken nose. He was released Thursday.

Graeme Rinholm of Saskatoon suffered a broken leg while Bill Thomas of Queensville, Ont., suffered bruised lungs and other minor trauma. Rinholm and Thomas were released earlier this week.

"I think we proved Canada can be down and out one week, but bounce back and be on top the next, and that is something we should be proud of as a whole team," Humphries said.

Germans Cathleen Martini and Berit Wiacker won gold in 1:43.56, while Fabienne Meyer and Hanne Schenk of Switzerland took the bronze in 1:44.10.

Martini leads after five of eight races with 1,069 points. Anja Schneiderheinze of Germany has 995 points and Meyer has 986.