Elana Meyers Taylor wins silver while bronze goes to Kaillie Humphries
PyeongChang (RWH): Mariama Jamanka of Germany has won Olympic gold in the women’s bobsleigh. At the PyeongChang Olympic Sliding Centre, the 2017 European Champion and her brakewoman Lisa Buckwitz were locked in a head-to-head battle for gold against the US pairing of Elana Meyers Taylor/Lauren Gibbs over all four heats before eventually coming out on top. While the US pairing had the edge up at the start, Jamanka/Buckwitz managed to just move into the lead at the finish line in three out of the four runs. By the end of the race, there was a mere 0.07-second gap between the gold for Jamanka/Buckwitz and silver for Meyers Taylor/Gibbs.
The Olympic bronze in PyeongChang was awarded to Kaillie Humphries/Phylicia George (CAN, 0.44 seconds back). After her two golds in 2010 and 2014 and now the bronze in 2018, three out of Canada’s four Olympic medals in the women’s bobsleigh have been won by pilot Kaillie Humphries. The remaining medal was a silver won by Helen Upperton/Shelley-Ann Brown in Vancouver in 2010.
Mariama Jamanka’s Olympic gold is her first ever medal at the Winter Games. Germany’s last Olympic victory came in Turin (ITA) in 2006 with a gold for Sandra Prokoff/Anja Schneiderheinze. Sandra Prokoff/Ulrike Holzner and Susi Erdmann/Nicole Herschmann also won silver and bronze for Germany at Salt Lake City in 2002.
Her silver medal marks Elana Meyers Taylor's third Olympic medal. At Vancouver 2010, she won bronze as the brakewoman for Erin Pac, before going on to win silver as a pilot with Lauryn Williams in 2014. The USA have now won a total of six medals in the women’s bobsleigh (one gold, three silvers and two bronze).
The local heroes Yooran Kim/Minseong Kim (KOR) ended the Olympic race in PyeongChang – the third heat of which was attended by IOC President Thomas Bach –in twelfth place. ©RWH2018
>> Result
Mariama Jamanka (GER, 2018 Olympic Champion, 2017 European Champion)
“To be completely honest, I can’t really get my head around it. This is my first ever victory, which makes the whole thing even harder to believe. It helped that there are four heats at the Olympics. Now, I’m hoping to get a win in the World Cup, too.”
Elana Meyers Taylor (USA, 2014 and 2018 Olympic silver medallist, 2015 and 2017 World Champion)
“This medal just means everything to me. The USA have won a medal at every single women’s bobsleigh event at the Winter Olympic Games and I am delighted to have contributed to it. Hat’s off to Mariama – she really deserved the gold.”
Kaillie Humphries (CAN, 2018 Olympic bronze medallist, 2010 and 2014 Olympic Champion)
“From the very first day, we knew that we’d have to give it our all here. Phylicia transformed from a Summer Olympian into an incredible brakewoman in a really short space of time. We’ve got a great team and I definitely want to do another four years.”
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