A poor start in her third run was enough to distance Christine de Bruin from the lead pack and eventually leave the Canadian and brakewoman Kristen Bujnowski off the medal podium in Olympic bobsleigh on Saturday.
They rebounded with a quicker start in the fourth and final run but recorded a slower finish, placing fifth in a combined time of four minutes 6.37 seconds in the two-woman event at Yanqing National Sliding Centre.
“I’m just really proud of us. This experience really shows we’re a strong team,” de Bruin of Stony Plain, Alta., told CBC Sports. “If one of us messed up, it didn’t matter, [we] just [kept] going at it. We’re fighters, and that’s nice.”
De Bruin, 32, was nearly a second behind fellow pilot Elana Meyers Taylor of the United States, who clocked 4:05.48 for bronze with first-time Olympian Sylvia Hoffman and collected her fourth career medal in the event.
Meyers Taylor is now the most decorated Black Winter Olympian after capturing monobob silver on Monday. Five medals is two more than any other Olympic bobsledder, male or female, has won for the U.S.
“That is overwhelming,” the 37-year-old said. “It’s so crazy to hear that stat and know that I’m part of a legacy that’s bigger than me.”
Germany’s Laura Nolte won gold in 4:03.96, followed by teammate Mariama Jamanka (4:04.73), the 2018 Olympic champion.
German Laura Nolte captures bobsleigh gold in Olympic debut
4 hours ago
Duration 4:05
The 23-year-old and partner Deborah Levi took home the gold medal with 0.77 second margin of victory. 4:05
Germany now has eight gold in nine events and 14 medals overall in the three sliding sports at the Beijing Olympics. The Germans will likely add to that on the final day since they have the top two sleds at the midpoint of the four-man competition that will end Sunday. They already have more gold, and more medals, in sliding events than any nation ever has at any Olympics.
American Kaillie Humphries, who won two-woman Olympic gold sliding for Canada in 2010 and 2014, was seventh on Saturday in 4:07.04 after winning Monday’s monobob, which made its Winter Games debut in China.
Humphries reportedly was battling a right leg injury that adversely impacted her start times with Olympic rookie Kaysha Love.
“It hurts, I won’t lie,” Humphries said. “I gave every ounce of everything I had to the last two days and it wasn’t there. We can’t be fearful of not being the best.”
Humphries plans to miss the next one or two seasons to start a family and insisted Saturday she would race at one final Olympics in 2026.
Toronto native Cynthia Appiah (4:07.52) finished eighth after starting the day in that position while Melissa Lotholz of Barrhead, Alta., climbed four spots to 12th in a time of 4:08.37 with Sara Villani.
A tough third run by de Bruin extended to Appiah, who cleaned up some early mistakes and had a good entrance into the 12th of 16 corners before avoiding serious injury after hitting the left wall and tipping her sled.
WATCH | Appiah crashes in 3rd run coming out of 13th curve:
Canada’s Appiah suffers crash during 3rd run of Olympic bobsleigh event
6 hours ago
Duration 1:50
Canada’s Cynthia Appiah and brakewoman Dawn Richardson Wilson crash during their third run of the 2-woman bobsleigh event at Beijing 2022. 1:50
Appiah, who exited the sled under her own power along with brakewoman Dawn Richardson Wilson, was given a 1:01.95 finish time.
Appiah also hit the wall in the same spot, coming out of the 13th curve, in her final run but had a clean finish to her Olympic debut after being an alternate four years ago. The 31-year-old former track and field athlete was ready to quit bobsleigh after leaving Pyeongchang, South Korea, but pressed on and transitioned to being a pilot on the track.
“This is where I was supposed to be” ????<br><br>Olympic bobsled debutant, Dawn Richardson-Wilson on what it means to represent more than just your country on the world’s largest stage <br><br>WATCH ‘Being Black in Canada at the Olympic Games’: <a href=”https://t.co/VybzDnfc5u”>https://t.co/VybzDnfc5u</a> <a href=”https://t.co/fswcheXULJ”>pic.twitter.com/fswcheXULJ</a>
Meanwhile, de Bruin and Bujnowski couldn’t make up for slowness at the top of the track in their third run. Their last run in Beijing included a faster start, a hit wall on the ninth curve and too much height on others.
Earlier this season, Graham Richardson, team manager and technical driver coach for Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton, noticed improved physical ability from the duo.
“Christine had a tendency when running fast behind the sled to have a shorter stride length that would kill her velocity,” Richardson said of de Bruin, who placed seventh with Lotholz at the 2018 Olympics after missing the 2014 Games with a back injury. “In her general training, she’s worked at making sure the steps are more powerful. Her start times are getting better but, more importantly, the velocity’s getting better.
“Christine knows when to get in the sled to let Buj accelerate. It’s so technically difficult to get into the sled [to] add velocity, but working with Jamie McCartney, our push coach, they have improved a great deal.”
However, a 5.51-second start in the third run was de Bruin and Bujnowski’s downfall on Saturday as Meyers Taylor set a start record of 5.30 to extend her lead over the Canadians to 72-100ths of a second.
De Bruin and Bujnowski were quicker off the start in the fourth run (5.45-5.35) but too far behind Meyers Taylor, who topped this season’s World Cup standings.
WATCH | 5th-place de Bruin improves 2 spots from 2018 Olympics:
Canadian Christine de Bruin places 5th in 2-woman bobsleigh
4 hours ago
Duration 2:12
de Bruin and partner Kristen Bujnowski finished just under one second off the podium at Beijing 2022. 2:12
Bujnowski said she learned more about herself at these Games and how to better handle stressful situations.
“I feel really confident going forward and racing because I think we can accomplish a lot,” said Bujnowski, while de Bruin nodded in approval.
We can look at each other and know what we’re thinking. The communication is strong, and we really are a team.— Canadian bobsleigh pilot Christine de Bruin
Talk of de Bruin and Bujnowski as serious medal contenders at these Games increased after they earned four bronze in eight World Cup starts this season to follow a bronze performance at a Beijing test event in October.
The world’s fourth-ranked tandem clicked early following the return of Bujnowski, who sat out last season because of COVID-19 restrictions after straining her right calf. The 29-year-old from Mount Brydges, Ont., showed little rust in lowering the women’s push record to 5.36 seconds at Calgary’s Ice House before the Olympic test event.
De Bruin and Bujnowski had a 2018-19 breakthrough season featuring two World Cup silver and world championship bronze. A year later, they added another World Cup silver and world bronze.
“We can look at each other and know what we’re thinking,” de Bruin said. “The communication is strong, and we really are a team. It’s not just the pilot telling the brakeman what to do.”
For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.
DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings signed forward Lucas Raymond to an eight-year, $64.6 million contract Monday, completing a deal with one of their best young players less than 72 hours before training camp begins.
Raymond will count $8.075 million against the salary cap through 2032. The 22-year-old was a restricted free agent without a contract for the upcoming NHL season and was coming off setting career highs with 31 goals, 41 assists and 72 points.
The Red Wings have another one of those in defenceman Moritz Seider, who won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 2021-22.
Detroit is looking to end an eight-year playoff drought dating to the Original Six franchise’s last appearance in 2016.
Raymond, a Swede who was the fourth pick in 2020, has 174 points in 238 games since breaking into the league.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kirk Cousins led a flawless last-minute drive for Atlanta and connected with Drake London for a 7-yard touchdown with 34 seconds left to give the Falcons a 22-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night.
Saquon Barkley dropped a short pass that stopped the clock with 1:46 left and forced the Eagles to settle for a field goal instead of a game-sealing first down. That was plenty of time for Cousins — especially against an Eagles defense playing soft coverage with a nonexistent pass rush.
The 36-year-old veteran, playing his second game since tearing his Achilles tendon last Oct. 29 while playing for Minnesota, shook off an uneven effort and hit Darnell Mooney for 21 and 26 yards on consecutive plays during the decisive drive.
Cousins found London on a short pass to his right for the tying score, and Younghoe Koo put Atlanta (1-1) on top with a 48-yard extra point after London was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. The go-ahead drive took just 65 seconds.
Jalen Hurts had his final pass intercepted by Jessie Bates III to seal Atlanta’s win and set off a wild celebration on the sideline.
The Eagles (1-1) went ahead on Hurts’ 1-yard tush push score with 6:47 left. Barkley finished with 95 yards on 22 carries in his home debut for Philadelphia, but his drop provided the Falcons with some hope.
And then Cousins started playing like the QB Atlanta thought it was getting when it signed him to a four-year, $180 million contract.
Cousins finished 20 of 29 for 241 yards and two touchdowns. Atlanta’s first TD was a 41-yarder from Cousins to Mooney, who finished with three catches for 88 yards.
Hurts was 23 of 30 for 183 yards, including a touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith. With No. 1 receiver A.J. Brown out with a hamstring injury, Smith led the Eagles with seven catches for 76 yards and a score.
Jake Elliott kicked two field goals for the Eagles. His 28-yarder with 1:39 left made it 21-15.
Atlanta kept stalling in the red zone, getting three field goals from Koo, before Cousins fired over the middle to Mooney, who shook loose from C.J. Gardner-Johnson and left him on the turf before he somersaulted into the end zone with 1:21 left in the third quarter for a 15-10 lead. Cousins failed on the 2-point conversion pass.
Hurts had some juice in his step during a second-quarter TD drive, running with abandon for big plays much like he did in the 2022 season. He spiked the ball in a rare, raw show of emotion on a 23-yard run, earning a delay-of-game penalty. He shrugged off the 5-yard setback and scrambled for 9 yards and 15 yards to move the Eagles to Atlanta’s 19.
With comedian Shane Gillis and actor Bradley Cooper among the fans cheering on the Eagles, Hurts connected with Smith in the back of the end zone for a 7-yard TD that made it 7-3.
Under new defensive coordinator Vince Fangio, the Eagles have established an early knack for allowing long drives that end with three points instead of seven. Koo kicked field goals of 39, 22 and 34 yards, the last one enough for a 9-7 lead in the third quarter. In their opener, the Eagles held the Packers to just three field goals when they drove inside the 20.
Questionable call
Rather than take a chip-shot field goal from Elliott, the Eagles’ fourth-and-4 gamble at Atlanta’s 9-yard line in the first quarter failed when Hurts threw an incomplete pass.
Elliott kicked a 29-yarder with 4:31 left in the third quarter for a 10-9 lead.
Running wild
Bijan Robinson ran for 97 yards for the Falcons. The Eagles stuffed him late on fourth-and-1 at the Atlanta 39.
Barkley was quiet until the go-ahead drive, a week after he rushed for 109 yards and scored three touchdowns against Green Bay. Eagles fans booed when the opening drive of the game ended without Barkley touching the ball. They went wild when he had consecutive 9-yard runs to open the second drive. Barkley had 40 yards rushing in the first half.
Foles honored
Former Eagles QB Nick Foles, who led the franchise to its only Super Bowl title, served as an honorary captain and led the crowd in a rendition of “Fly, Eagles, Fly.”
Injuries
The Falcons played without LB Nate Landman (calf, quad).
Up next
Atlanta hosts Super Bowl champion Kansas City on Sunday.
TORONTO – Singles star Leylah Fernandez and doubles specialist Gabriela Dabrowski will anchor Canada’s five-player lineup when the team tries to defend its Billie Jean King Cup title in mid-November.
The 26th-ranked Fernandez, the 2021 U.S. Open finalist from Laval, Que., is the lone Canadian in the top 100 of the WTA Tour’s singles rankings.
Dabrowski, from Ottawa, is ranked fourth on the doubles list. The 2023 U.S. Open women’s doubles champion won mixed doubles bronze with Felix Auger-Aliassime at the recent Paris Olympics.
Marina Stakusic of Mississauga, Ont., returns after a breakout performance last year, capped by her singles win in Canada’s 2-0 victory over Italy in the final. Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino is also back and Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion from Mississauga, Ont., returns to the squad for the first time since 2022.
“Winning the Billie Jean King Cup in 2023 was a dream come true for us, and not only that, but I feel like we made a statement to the world about the strength of this nation when it comes to tennis,” Canada captain Heidi El Tabakh said Monday in a release. “Once again, we have a very strong team this year with Bianca joining Leylah, Gaby, Rebecca and Marina, making it an extremely powerful team that is more than capable of going all the way.
“At the end of the day, our goal is to make Canada proud, and we’ll do our best to bring the same level of effort and excitement that we had in last year’s finals.”
Fernandez, who beat Jasmine Paolini to clinch Canada’s first-ever title at the competition, is ranked No. 42 in doubles.
Canada, which received an automatic berth as defending champion, will play the winner of the first-round tie between Great Britain and Germany on Nov. 17 at Malaga’s Martin Carpena Arena.
Australia, Italy and wild-card entry Czechia also received first-round byes. The tournament, which continues through Nov. 20, also includes host Spain, Slovakia, the United States, Poland, Japan and Romania.
Stakusic is up 27 spots to No. 128 in the latest world singles rankings. Marino is at No. 134 and Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, is ranked 167th.
Canada will look to become the first team since Czechia in 2016 to successfully defend its Billie Jean King Cup title.
Malaga will also host the Nov. 19-24 Davis Cup Final 8. The Canadian men qualified over the weekend with a 2-1 victory over Great Britain in Manchester.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
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