Germany's Kim Kalicki, front, celebrates after she and Anabel Galander raced to a first-place finish during the two-woman bobsleigh competition at the IBSF BOB world cup event, in Whistler, B.C., on Saturday, Nov. 26, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
WHISTLER, B.C. – The next generation of Canadian bobsledders believe they’ve got something to build on this World Cup season.
Making her debut as a pilot at the first stop of the season in Whistler, B.C., on Friday, Bianca Ribi captured gold in the women’s monobob. The 26-year-old Winnipegger then teamed up with brakewoman Niamh Haughey on Saturday and added a fifth-place finish in two-woman bobsled to her resume.
“We’ve been having a great time, even at our lowest points. So I’m really happy with the foundation that we’ve laid for the rest of the season,” Ribi said.
“I think going into future World Cups, we can just kind of build off of this and it builds our team cohesion, definitely. As the racing goes on, we learn each other better and we continue to build that trust. So I’m confident this is just the beginning.”
Ribi and Haughey were the top Canadians in the field in snowy Whistler on Saturday, where the temperature hovered around 1 C.
They finished behind Kim Kalicki and Anabel Galander of Germany, who clocked a time of one minute, 45.93 seconds in the two-heat race. The 25-year-old pilot described winning her fourth World Cup gold as “absolutely incredible.”
“We were very happy here on that difficult track in Whistler. First time for us here. But we’re very, very happy,” she said.
Melanie Hasler and Nadja Pasternack of Switzerland came in 0.20 seconds behind the Germans to take silver, and Americans Kaillie Humphries and Emily Renna came in third.
Canada’s Cynthia Appiah finished sixth with brakewoman Leah Walkeden, who was making her World Cup debut.
“It was so nerve-wracking,” said Walkeden, a 29-year-old former sprinter at the University of Alberta. “But the great thing about bobsled and the brakeman is that every practice is the same as every race. I push, I get in, I pull the brakes.”
Appiah, one of the Canadian team’s most veteran athletes, won silver in the monobob on Friday.
She was visibly frustrated after her first run Saturday, holding her head in her hands momentarily before getting out of the sled.
“We know we can do better,” Walkeden said. “We just said, ‘It is what it is, it happened. We just need to lay down a way cleaner run on the second run. We know we can do it.’ And we did. “¦ We turned it around and ended on a high note.”
American World Cup rookies Riley Compton and Macy Tarlton did not finish the first heat after crashing midway through the run.
The competition will wrap Saturday afternoon with the four-man race.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 26, 2022.
