From Lake Placid, USA
(Feb. 15, 2019) – Going into St. Moritz it had been a year since a non-German had won gold in the IBSF women’s bobsled ranks. Leaving Lake Placid, it’ll have been a month since a non-American has taken gold.
Elana Meyers Taylor came from behind to take gold over Chrisine de Bruin and Stephanie Schneider.
Schneider held a .11 second lead over Meyers Taylor coming into the second run. Meyers rallied, putting down a run over .3 faster than anyone else in the second heat to put the pressure on Schneider. Schneider couldn’t answer, and could only muster a fourth-quickest run to give the gold to Meyers Taylor.
Meyers Taylor saw this weekend as a great stride toward a World Championship run.
“We knew we were out of contention for the overall title [after a first-race DSQ],” Meyers Taylor said. “So we’ve had to re-set our sights on World Championships. We’ve worked on some different combos and tried different setups, and that’s been our focus.”
Christine de Bruin finished second, tying a season-best finish (Altenberg) in three World Cup events. As the only Canadian, she was slightly on her own getting Lake Placid figured out.
“This is my favorite track, I really enjoy it. It’s about executing,” said de Bruin. “Me and Alysia [Rissling] talk about corners a lot, so her not being here I was trying to figure out who I was going to talk to. We were texting though, so it was sort of like she was here!”
Schneider finished third, ahead of Mariama Jamanka, Brittany Reinbolt, and Anna Köhler.
Mica McNeill finished ninth for Great Britain.
With one race to go in the 2018/2019 World Cup Season, Mariama Jamanka has a commanding lead on the field, with German teammates Stephanie Schneider and Anna Köhler second and third. Elana Meyers Taylor has worked her way up to fourth, despite scoring no points in her first race.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Meyers Taylor / Kwaza | USA | 13 | 5.47 | 5.39 | 57.31 | 57.48 | 1:54.79 |
| 2 | de Bruin / Bujnowski | CAN | 3 | 5.55 | 5.52 | 57.34 | 57.83 | 1:55.17 |
| 3 | Schneider / Levi | GER | 12 | 5.46 | 5.43 | 57.20 | 58.07 | 1:55.27 |
| 4 | Jamanka / Bertels | GER | 4 | 5.57 | 5.53 | 57.64 | 58.24 | 1:55.28 |
| 5 | Reinbolt / Davis | USA | 5 | 5.60 | 5.59 | 57.64 | 58.24 | 1:55.88 |
| 6 | Köhler / Gericke | GER | 7 | 5.63 | 5.64 | 57.68 | 58.28 | 1:55.96 |
| 7 | Grecu / Vlad | ROU | 11 | 5.59 | 5.97 | 57.73 | 58.35 | 1:56.08 |
| 8 | Sergeeva / Egoshenko | RUS | 6 | 5.56 | 5.58 | 57.66 | 58.44 | 1:56.10 |
| 9 | McNeill / Kiddle | GBR | 9 | 5.75 | 5.77 | 57.94 | 58.19 | 1:56.13 |
| 10 | Vannieuwenhuyse / Aerts | BEL | 10 | 5.70 | 5.73 | 57.91 | 58.55 | 1:56.46 |
| 11 | Vogt / Jones | USA | 1 | 5.77 | 5.74 | 57.98 | 58.60 | 1:56.58 |
| 12 | Fontanive / Pasternack | SUI | 2 | 5.67 | 5.64 | 58.06 | 58.59 | 1:56.65 |
| 13 | Chernykh / Shokshueva | RUS | 8 | 5.64 | 5.66 | 58.15 | 58.54 | 1:56.69 |
