From Altenberg, GER
(Jan. 6, 2018) Altenberg is known as one of the toughest tracks on the IBSF World Cup tour, and it flexed its muscles in the women’s bobsled race.
The women’s event saw three hard crashes across two heats, with previous race winner Stephanie Schneider crashing in her first run and missing the second heat due to the resulting disqualification. On top of the crashes, it seemed like it was nearly impossible for anyone to put down a completely clean run.
The one woman who was able to do that was reigning Olympic champion Kaillie Humphries, who had also won the previous two races in Altenberg.
Humphries once again proved she’s the best in the world at getting down Altenberg, breaking her own track record by .55 in the first heat on the way to a gold medal. Setting the fast time in both heats, the Canadian cruised to a .69 victory over American Jamie Greubel Poser, while Anna Köhler won her first ever IBSF World Cup medal with a bronze.
Christina Hengster finally found her way into the top six after struggling for most of the season to find the speed that had made her a medal contender in previous seasons. Hengster finished fourth, just ahead of Mirama Jamanka of Germany and Elfje Willemsen, who rounded out the top six.
Elana Meyers Taylor struggled to find speed in Altenberg, crashing twice in practice and nearly going over in her first heat. She finished 11th, while Great Britain’s Mica McNeill crashed in her second heat, finishing 20th.
Alysia Rissling finished 10th for Canada, ahead of teammate Christine de Bruin in 13th.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Humphries / George | CAN | 4 | 5.62 | 5.65 | 56.22 | 56.40 | 1:52.62 |
| 2 | Greubel Poser / Evans | USA | 7 | 5.63 | 5.66 | 56.66 | 56.65 | 1:53.31 |
| 3 | Köhler / Drazek | GER | 9 | 5.68 | 5.69 | 56.75 | 56.77 | 1:53.52 |
| 4 | Hengster / Onasanya | AUT | 16 | 5.77 | 5.79 | 56.84 | 56.76 | 1:53.60 |
| 5 | Jamanka / Strack | GER | 11 | 5.72 | 5.74 | 56.76 | 56.90 | 1:53.66 |
| 6 | Willemsen / Aerts | BEL | 18 | 5.82 | 5.86 | 56.91 | 56.92 | 1:53.83 |
| 7 | Hafner / R. Rebsamen | SUI | 19 | 5.87 | 5.86 | 57.10 | 57.13 | 1:54.23 |
| 8 | Sergeeva / Belomestnykh | RUS | 15 | 5.78 | 5.76 | 57.35 | 56.94 | 1:54.29 |
| 9 | Rodionova / Kocherzhova | RUS | 14 | 5.87 | 5.87 | 57.22 | 57.16 | 1:54.38 |
| 10 | Rissling / Moyse | CAN | 5 | 5.77 | 5.83 | 57.05 | 57.40 | 1:54.45 |
| 11 | Meyers Taylor / B. Jones | USA | 8 | 5.54 | 5.57 | 57.34 | 57.13 | 1:54.47 |
| 12 | Vannieuwenhuyse / Vercruyssen | BEL | 20 | 5.86 | 5.91 | 57.49 | 57.04 | 1:54.53 |
| 13 | de Bruin / Appiah | CAN | 6 | 5.79 | 5.80 | 57.21 | 57.52 | 1:54.73 |
| 14 | Beierl / Hahn | AUT | 12 | 5.89 | 5.93 | 57.57 | 57.29 | 1:54.86 |
| 15 | Constantin / Iusco | ROU | 2 | 5.92 | 5.93 | 57.77 | 57.32 | 1:55.09 |
| 16 | Asazu / Kimishima | JPN | 1 | 5.97 | 5.98 | 58.01 | 57.40 | 1:55.41 |
| 17 | Oshigiri / Morimoto | JPN | 3 | 5.80 | 5.88 | 58.69 | 56.95 | 1:55.64 |
| 18 | Fenlator-Victorian / Segree | JAM | 17 | 5.88 | 5.88 | 58.33 | 57.48 | 1:55.81 |
| 19 | Fontanive / Kambundji | SUI | 21 | 5.87 | 5.88 | 58.03 | 57.85 | 1:55.88 |
| 20 | McNeill / Moore | GBR | 13 | 5.86 | 5.89 | 57.01 | 60.05 | 1:57.06 |
| DSQ | Schneider / Bertels | GER | 10 | 5.75 | DSQ |
