Humphries, Lotholz second in women’s World Cup bobsled competition

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. – Canada’s Kaillie Humphries drove to a silver medal in a women’s World Cup bobsled race Friday.

And by all estimates the Calgarian will finish last in her next outing. And for once, that will be just fine with her.

Humphries will drive in the four-person race Saturday, racing a sled filled with women against a field of all-male teams. Humphries and American Elana Meyers Taylor — who isn’t in this World Cup while she recovers from a concussion — started racing four-person sleds against men last season, but always with men pushing their sleds.

Humphries has been pushing for four-women sliding to become a reality, and hopes her lineup Saturday is a big step toward that goal. For now, “women’s” bobsledding only has a two-person division. Men’s bobsledding has two- and four-person divisions.

“Tomorrow will be exciting,” Humphries said. “Definitely going to be challenging. We’ve done two runs together and these girls have slid down together only two runs in their entire lives. It’ll be fun and it’ll be the start of something new.”

Americans Jamie Greubel-Poser and Cherelle Garrett won Friday’s event in one minute 53.48 seconds after posting the fastest time in both runs. Humphries and brakeman Melissa Lotholz, of Barrhead, Alta., were second in 1:53.91.

Saturday, however, the sheer physics put Humphries at a huge disadvantage. The men’s sleds will carry somewhere around 300 pounds (136 kilograms) more than her sled will, meaning they will generate far more momentum — based on added mass and velocity.

“We want to go out and win, yes,” Humphries said. “The chance of us doing that is going to be 0.001 per cent.

“At the end of the day, we’re kind of racing in a league of our own.”