From Sigulda, LAT
(January 2, 2022) – In a season full of exciting finishes, Elana Meyers Taylor took gold in another exciting race in Sigulda.
On their first run Meyers Taylor and Lake Kwaza tied the track record set moments earlier by Nadezhda Sergeeva and Yulia Belomestnykh, with both teams setting identical start and finish times.
Meyers Taylor drove the Americans into the lead in the second heat with only the Russians to go. Sergeeva and Belomestnykh put-pushed Meyers Taylor and Kwaza off the top, and it looked as though they’d be no worse than silver. However, Sergeeva was late out of Curve 13 and flipped her sled, and while the Russians got the sled righted, they plummeted down the order and well out of the medals, giving the Americans gold.
The gold medal for Meyers Taylor was the 19th of her career, while Kwaza scored her second gold on brakes. Kwaza has never finished off of the podium as a two-woman brakewoman.
Behind the excitement in the race for gold, Great Britain’s Mica McNeill won her first ever World Cup medal with a silver. She and Adele Nicoll improved their start time in the second run by .06, and while McNeill came back to Canada’s Christine de Bruin, she was able to hold off the Canadian by .02 for the silver.
Canada’s de Bruin, with Kristen Bujnowski on brakes, slid into the bronze medal on the strength of the quickest run of the second heat.
China’s Mingming Huai finished in fourth place, just ahead of Anastasiia Makarova of Russia in fifth. Qing Ying helped put both Chinese sleds in the top six with a sixth place effort. All three woman scored career-best finishes in Sigulda.
Australia’s Ashleigh Werner and Tia-Clair Toomey finished with a World Cup career-best 12th place finish in Sigulda in Werner’s first ever visit to Sigulda.
With two races to go in the World Cup season, Elana MEyers Taylor leads Christine de Bruin by 41 points. Laura Nolte, Kim Kalicki, Mariama Jamanka, and Kaillie Humphries round out the top six, with none of those four woman having raced in Sigulda.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Meyers Taylor / Kwaza | USA | 6 | 5.35 | 5.36 | 50.72 | 51.16 | 1:41.88 |
| 2 | McNeill / Nicoll | GBR | 3 | 5.51 | 5.45 | 50.86 | 51.24 | 1:42.10 |
| 3 | de Bruin / Bujnowski | CAN | 13 | 5.39 | 5.34 | 51.01 | 51.11 | 1:42.12 |
| 4 | Huai / Wang | CHN | 7 | 5.45 | 5.42 | 51.02 | 51.26 | 1:42.28 |
| 5 | Makarova / Mamedova | RUS | 12 | 5.45 | 5.46 | 51.11 | 51.28 | 1:42.39 |
| 6 | Ying / Du | CHN | 9 | 5.48 | 5.49 | 51.17 | 51.27 | 1:42.44 |
| 7 | Grecu / Wick | ROU | 5 | 5.47 | 5.46 | 51.31 | 51.22 | 1:42.53 |
| 8 | Schneider / Galander | GER | 8 | 5.36 | 5.39 | 51.16 | 51.57 | 1:42.73 |
| 9 | Chernykh / Tarasova | RUS | 10 | 5.47 | 5.50 | 51.28 | 51.49 | 1:42.77 |
| 10 | Vannieuwenhuyse / Aerts | BEL | 1 | 5.51 | 5.53 | 51.20 | 51.66 | 1:42.86 |
| 11 | Fontanive / Strebel | SUI | 15 | 5.44 | 5.45 | 51.43 | 51.50 | 1:42.93 |
| 12 | Werner / Toomey | AUS | 14 | 5.50 | 5.48 | 51.61 | 51.35 | 1:42.96 |
| 13 | Kim / Jeon | KOR | 2 | 5.73 | 5.72 | 51.36 | 51.69 | 1:43.05 |
| 14 | Andreutti / Vicenzino | ITA | 17 | 5.69 | 5.69 | 52.03 | 51.78 | 1:43.81 |
| 15 | Sergeeva / Belomestnykh | RUS | 4 | 5.35 | 5.33 | 50.72 | 53.52 | 1:44.24 |
| 16 | Beierl / Onasanya | AUT | 11 | 5.37 | 5.40 | 51.25 | 57.10 | 1:48.35 |
| 17 | Spreeuwers / Mark | GER | 18 | 5.45 | 5.53 | 57.16 | 51.89 | 1:49.05 |
| 18 | Walker / Reddingius | AUS | 16 | 5.37 | 5.43 | 57.75 | 56.72 | 1:54.47 |
