Toronto’s Cynthia Appiah captured a bronze medal Saturday in the final World Cup monobob race of the season in Sigulda, Latvia.
Appiah, 32, finished tied with China’s Qing Ying with a two-run time of one minute 47.10 seconds. American Kaillie Humphries finished first in 1:46.52 while Germany’s Kim Kalicki was second in 1:46.96.
“I missed out on racing here last year due to the COVID outbreak on our team,” Appiah said. “So I came in with some trepidation and I also didn’t have the greatest training week,.
“Sigulda is more of a luge and skeleton track, so it is much harder to navigate in a bobsled. My goal was to have as clean of a run as possible because I knew my starts, coupled with my decent runs, would lead me to the podium.”
WATCH l Appiah earns bronze in Sigulda:
Appiah tied for third place after setting a course start record at Sigulda.
Appiah was quick off the start in both runs (5.62 and 5.60 seconds) but had difficulty perfecting the bottom portion of the track.
“I knew I had what it took to win the race, but the mistake I made out of corner 15 on both runs caused me to lose a lot of time,” Appiah said. “Hopefully the tour returns here in the coming years.
“The track is similar to Lake Placid and Altenberg — two tracks that I enjoy driving and suit my driving style.”
Appiah finished third in the overall World Cup standings, registering a silver and four bronze medals over eight races.
“It has been a challenging season, but sliding has been fun overall and I found the fun that had been missing for me these last few years,” she said. “It has reignited my passion for driving again.”
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