Vancouver champions defending Olympic title

Sochi (RWH) The women’s bobsleigh has been on the Olympic agenda three times to date,with three duos from three nations taking gold: Jill Bakken/Vonetta Flowers of the USA in 2002(Salt Lake City), Sandra Prokoff (now Kiriasis)/Anja Schneiderheinze of Germany in 2006(Turin) and Kaillie Humphries/Heather Moyse of Canada in 2010 (Vancouver).

When the women’s bobsleigh showcases at the Olympics for the fourth time on 18 and 19February, the team that won gold in Vancouver will be among the favourites for a medal in theSanki Sliding Centre. Bobsleigh driver Kaillie Humphries has dominated the scene these lasttwo winters, coming first in the World Cup rankings in 2013 and 2014 and winning two WorldChampionships (2012 and 2014). At the start of the Olympic season in November last year inCalgary (CAN), Humphries was re-joined by brakewoman Heather Moyse after a break ofalmost three years and drove straight to victory. Moyse had last competed in the bobsleigh atthe World Championships in Königssee in February 2011. Since then she had suffered anankle injury and undergone hip surgery, but also won a place on the national Canadian teamfor the rugby World Cup and taken part in the Pan-American Cycling Championships inArgentina. Now 35, Heather Moyse was faster than ever in the qualifying races for theCanadian team, and will be competing in her third Winter Games since 2006 (where shecame fourth with Helen Upperton), again paired with her gold-winning partner KaillieHumphries.

Two athletes from the German team will also be going for a second Olympic gold at the XXIIOlympic Winter Games in Sochi: Sandra Kiriasis and Anja Schneiderheinze, who won theTurin Olympics together in 2006. Pilot Kiriasis, who was 39 in January, can also boast a silvermedal from the 2002 Olympics and could well celebrate her recently announced retirementfrom the sport of bobsleigh with a third Olympic medal. Her former brakewoman AnjaSchneiderheinze has since moved to the front of the sleigh, collecting silver in the 2011European Championships and coming overall second in the 2012 World Cup. The 35-year-oldwill be steering an Olympic bobsleigh for the first time in Sochi.

The favourites for a medal in the Sanki Sliding Centre also include the US athletes andparticularly Elana Meyers, who can also boast Olympic success with a bronze in Vancouverpushing Erin Pac. Meyers subsequently took the front seat, and the Olympic season has beenthe most successful to date for the 2013 World Championship runner-up: five seconds andtwo victories in eight World Cup races placed Elana Meyers second in the overall rankings,just one point behind Kaillie Humphries. In Sochi Meyers will be pushed by Lauryn Williams.Her teammate Jamie Greubel is paired with Aja Evans, and Jazmine Fenlator with Lolo Jones.

Finally, the Belgian and Swiss duos could well be good for a surprise in Sochi. Elfje Willemsenof Belgium notched up her best results to date this season with two second places in theWorld Cup, and came fourth in the Königssee European Championships. She also has aseasoned Olympic athlete in the back of her sleigh: Hanna Marien won silver with the Belgian4x100-metre relay team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. And Switzerland’s Fabienne Meyer leftthe competition way behind her in the final World Cup race in Königssee to win not only herfirst ever World Cup, but also European Championship gold.

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20 Years at #1:

ATR FIBT Bobsleigh Skeleton Sochi 2014

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