Cynthia Appiah Battles to Fifth in Monobob World Cup

INNSBRUCK, Aut.—Canada’s Cynthia Appiah battled to her best finish of the young World Cup season, placing fifth on Saturday in Innsbruck, Austria.

The Toronto resident leveraged top-three start times in both heats to clock a total time off 1:49.11.

“It was definitely a much better day,” said Appiah.

The 33-year-old has struggled to dominate the elite monobob races early this season the way she did one year ago when she finished third overall on the World Cup. She was back to her elite form in Friday’s race, but Mother Nature had other plans. Heavy snow in the track bit her in the standings where she finished eighth.

A leader in the women’s bobsleigh program, Appiah bounced back on Saturday with her best performance, mixing together two strong starts and runs down the 1,428-metre track.

“I made a small mistake on the second run that didn’t allow me to capitalize as much as I would have liked, but I was able to hold onto my position from the first run and that was all I can ask for.”

Appiah finished .35 seconds behind the race winner, Lisa Buckwitz. The German won back-to-back monobob races in Austria, posting a winning time of 1:49.42. Kaysha Love, of the United States, placed second at 1:49.53. Australia’s Bree Walker was on the podium for the second-straight day, locking up the bronze medal with a time of 1:49.55.

Calgary’s Bianca Ribi was the only other Canadian on the start line in Austria. The 27-year-old narrowly missed sliding into the top-10 for the second time in as many days. Ribi placed 11th at 1:50.63.

Complete Monobob Results: https://www.ibsf.org/en/result/503346/?cHash=ed65c51971b224353f32a2bc40ed256d

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