Kaillie Humphries, Justin Kripps win again at Canadian championships

CALGARY – Kaillie Humphries and Justin Kripps both swept the podium on Sunday at the Canadian Bobsleigh Championships by capturing the women’s and men’s four-man titles.

Humphries, a two-time Olympic champion from Calgary, and her crew of Melissa Lotholz from Barrhead, Alta., Quebec City’s Genevieve Thibault and Toronto’s Cynthia Appiah clocked a time of one minute 52.83 seconds. It was the first time an all-women’s four-man event was included at the Canadian championships.

“There are lots of little things we are working on and we are always learning — this is a process for us,” said Lotholz. “This is something new for our great sport, and it is really a lot of fun to be a part of it.”

Sarah Monk piloted a Calgary-based crew of Andrea Kotyk, Katie Findlay and Cherie Whelan to a second-place time of 1:58.49 at Canada Olympic Park. Calgary’s Alysia Rissling, Alycia Stewart, Sara Geganais and Kasha Lee were disqualified in the second run when one athlete didn’t get into the sled off the start.

Humphries was coming off a victory in the two-man discipline on Saturday.

Kripps also slid to his second straight gold medal on the weekend after finishing in a time of 1:48.93 in the men’s race. The 29-year-old pilot from Summerland, B.C., had Saskatoon’s Ben Coakwell, Josh Kirkpatrick of Calgary and Jesse Lumsden from Burlington, Ont., in his crew.

“We have some guys that took time away that are now back in our program. This time of year is all about refining those roles as a four-man crew,” Coakwell said. “Today was the first major test for our crew, and it was great to race in Calgary.”

Hamilton’s Nick Poloniato and his crew of Tim Randall from Burlington, Ont., Calgary’s Derek Plug and Saskatoon’s Kennan McDougall slid to the silver medal in 1:49.35.