Bobsleigh driver Lyndon Rush capped his final weekend of World Cup competition before the Olympics with a pair of bronze medals for Canada.
Rush and teammate Lascelles Brown won their first two-man World Cup medal of the season at Konigssee, Germany on Saturday. They clocked a third place time of 1:40.03, about a quarter of a second behind the gold medal Canadian duo of Justin Kripps and Bryan Barnett.
Kripps said after his first bomb down the track he thought of his Baba Agnes who passed away earlier this month and “relied on words from Olympic medal-winning teammate Lyndon Rush, to get him through the most nerve-wracking time of his athletic career,” according to a Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton news release.
“I had that great first run and couldn’t stop thinking that I could win this thing,” said Kripps. “Lyndon pulled me aside and said ‘anytime trophies, medals, victories or anything gets in your head slap yourself and focus’. I’m so glad he did that because I’d be lying if that didn’t keep coming into my thoughts.”
The following day Team Rush capped off their most successful weekend of the World Cup season.
After winning their first two-man medal of the year, Rush and Brown climbed back onto the podium for their first four-man podium of the year with teammates David Bissett and Neville Wright. The Canadian crew posted a two-run time of 1:38.84.
“It was a great end to the year for us,” said Tom De La Hunty, head coach, Canadian Bobsleigh Team. “We medalled in all three races so we are very optimistic now heading to Sochi.”
Canada’s Kaillie Humphries captured her second straight overall World Cup title with a bronze medal in the final race of the season at Konigssee. She was one point ahead of Elana Meyers of the United States for the overall title.
Along with Heather Moyse, Humphries racked up their fifth podium of the season after clocking a combined time of 1:44.29.
The reigning Olympic champions captured three World Cup victories, one silver and one bronze medal this year for a total of 1,629 points.
The Canadian team will now participate in a final pre-Olympic training camp in Germany before heading to Sochi, Russia for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games which begin Feb. 7.