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Sliders rack up five medals at home

Whistler Sliding Centre lucky for bobsleigh, skeleton athletes
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The final tally after three days of racing at Whistler Sliding Centre was five medals for Canada, all of them surprising in some way to the athletes.

For skeleton athlete Mellisa Hollingsworth, Thursday's World Cup race was an exorcism of sorts. In the 2010 Winter Games she was in the lead after the first three runs, but made an error in her fourth and final run that dropped her back to fifth place. Almost two years later she at last stood on top of the podium at Whistler Sliding Centre last Thursday, putting that demon to bed.

"When I was warming up (after the first run) it was pretty eerie," she said. "It was the same month, the sun was setting on the same mountain, I had the same feeling, the same position," said Hollingsworth, noting that even the temperature was about the same as it was during the Olympics when she lost the lead.

"I told my coach and he said 'that's good.' He said a lot of people would be happy to be in my position, that I should appreciate being number one (after the first run)... But I know I'm my own worst enemy, and in Whistler the one word that I keep telling myself was 'respect' — respect the track."

The win in Whistler bumped Hollingsworth up to third in the overall rankings, one of her goals coming into the season — a third-place ranking would automatically qualify her for the national team next season, without the need to qualify at nationals.

She said she deliberately tuned out the rest of the race, ignoring splits and times posted by other athletes while focusing on her own race — and in a way that's too bad because it was a dramatic night at Whistler Sliding Centre that showed the athleticism and skill of the athletes. Athletes who were fast at the top went high on corners and bumped into walls in the bottom section to drop off the pace, while slow starters found speed in the lower section and climbed the ranks. The 16th fastest racer in the first round posted the third-fastest time in the second run. The seventh fastest in the first run posted the 13th fastest second run. Germany's Marion Thees, currently ranked first overall, had a fast start, slow middle and fast finish to hold onto her lead in the points.

The course rewarded consistency, and Hollingsworth posted the fastest two runs of the day for a combined time of 1:49.79, followed by Lucy Katherine Chaffer of Australia and Shelley Rudman of Germany.

The other Canadians also did well. Sarah Reid posted one of her best results of the season in sixth place, jumping up nine spots with a fast second run. Amy Gough was sitting ninth after the first run and posted the fourth-fastest second run to move up to seventh.

Following skeleton was the women's bobsleigh event, and two medals for Canada. Olympic champion Kaillie Humphries and newcomer Emily Baadsvik won the women's event, their second win of the season.

The result wasn't unexpected.

"The key is to do every corner the best you can, or the magic doesn't happen," said Humphries. "I did make a few mistakes because we did drop a bit (from their margin after the first run). We were behind but were able to make it up."

Humphries said experience and confidence on the track played a large part in her second win of the season.

The other surprise of the day was the appearance of the Olympic bronze medal sled driven by Helen Upperton with Shelley-Ann Brown on the brakes. Upperton and Brown combined for a bronze medal and Canada's third podium of the night.

Brown had retired from the sport, but returned after a call from Upperton.

"It wasn't a tough sell," said Brown, and Upperton joked, "I begged her."

Upperton wanted Brown on her team again for the last part of this season, which includes the race in Whistler, this weekend's race in Calgary and the world championships in Lake Placid — one of their favourite tracks to race. Upperton had never won a world championship medal, and Brown wanted to help her out.

"I want her goals for her as much as she did," said Brown, although she was adamant that she wasn't planning a comeback for 2014.

The following day was the men's skeleton event, where the Canadians have struggled with Olympic champion Jon Montgomery taking the season off to train and prepare for the Games in 2014. John Fairbairn was the top Canadian in eight, posting his best result to date. Mike Douglas was 11th and rookie Eric Neilson 19th.

Canada's best hope was in the men's two-man bobsleigh, where Lyndon Rush and partner Jesse Lumsden are having a solid season overall. They were sitting in second after the first run, then posted the fastest second run of the day to take the win by just seven one-hundredths of a second.

"This is our first win and it feels really good," said Lumsden. "I wasn't happy with my push in the second heat and I knew it right away. I've been on the tour long enough that I could feel it — you want to feel smooth and fast. There's nothing you can do in the back except for will it."

Rush, who earned a bronze medal in four-man in the Olympics, knows the track well enough that he managed to find speed on the way down to take the win.

"We should be able to do it at home, and if we put down our best run here then our best should win."

The final day was the four-man bobsleigh. Rush and the Canadians have struggled in the event this season, and Rush came into Saturday with a team, which had never raced together — Lumsden, Codey Sorensen and Neville Wright.

With 2,000 fans watching, Rush steered the Canada 1 sled to its first medal of the season, placing third.

"We had a rough start clicking in the four-man this year, but made big strides at St. Moritz and stepped it up here," said Lumsden, as the team posted the fastest start of the day on the track. "In terms of a team level, this is huge for us. To have the fastest push of the day is also huge because on paper we have some great athletes and there is no reason we shouldn't be like that every week.

"We are going to take that over to Calgary and then carry it over into the World Championships."