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Hollingsworth golden and a bobsleigh breakthrough

Team earns two gold medals on French track
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Canada's bobsleigh and skeleton team had a good weekend in France, with two gold medals and some personal bests on the track at La Plagne.

To lead off the weekend, Olympic champion Kaillie Humphries and rookie brakeman Emily Baadsvik, pushed and steered their way to a gold medal, Humphries' first in an international competition since winning at the 2010 Winter Games in Whistler.

"It feels really nice," she said. "I didn't expect too much today but sliding has gone well all week and things turned out great.

"Emily did a great job today. The start is long and flat, which treated us well, so we are very happy."

The Germany 2 sled, Cathleen Martini and Janine Tischer, took the silver medal, followed by the Swiss 1 sled, Fabienne Meyer and Hanne Schenke.

The medal was welcome news for Humphries, who lost brakeman Heather Moyse to a rugby injury for most of last season. Moyse did not return this year, instead focusing on a new sport — track cycling — where she hopes to qualify to represent Canada in 2012.

In men's skeleton, Mike Douglas was the top Canadian in 10th, followed by John Fairbairn in 14th and rookie Eric Neilson in 20th. Jon Montgomery, the Olympic champion, is taking the season off racing to focus on training and preparing his sled.

The next day, Mellisa Hollingsworth ended her own two-year gold medal drought with a win in women's skeleton. It was her second time on the podium in as many weeks after she kick-started her season with a bronze.

"It was a good one and first in a long time so I'm really happy," she said.

She was joined on the podium by a pair of American racers, Anne O'Shea and Katie Uhlaender.

"If there's one thing I'm most proud of in my career it is my consistency of getting on the podium, and knowing that I can be in the medals on any type of track," she said after collecting her 29th career World Cup medal. "I'm not a monster on the push. Today I was sixth fastest so I'm average but I really feel confident in my equipment and that is important. It is so hard to win out here. Any time you are in the top six you should be happy because the field is so deep."

Sarah Reid continued to progress for Canada, finishing eighth on the day, while Amy Gough was 12th.

In two-man bobsleigh, Lyndon Rush and Neville Wright managed a fifth place showing. Chris Spring and Derek Plug were 10th.

The Germany 1 sled, Thomas Florschuetz and Kevin Kuske, was first, followed by the USA 1 sled, Steven Holcomb and Steven Langton, and the Swiss 1 sled, Beat Hefti and Thomas Lamparter.

In the final four-man event, Chris Spring's sled — including Tim Randall, Derek Plug and Graeme Rinholm — posted a personal best result of ninth place.

German teams swept the podium.

Team Rush — Lyndon Rush, Jesse Lumsden, Cody Sorensen and Neville Wright — continued to struggle, placing 11th.