Cynthia Appiah Drives to Silver Medal in World Cup Monobob

WINTERBERG, Ger.—Cynthia Appiah charged into the New Year, winning her first monobob medal of the World Cup bobsleigh season on Saturday, taking the silver in Winterberg, Germany.

The 35-year-old Appiah stormed onto the podium with a two-run time of 1:58.53 down the 15-corner track for her eighth career World Cup podium in the monobob discipline.

“This feels amazing. It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my back,” said Appiah. “The break was a much-needed reset for me. I came into the race just not putting pressure on myself because I really haven’t done well on this track.

“I was doing well in training this week and the coaches (Lyndon Rush and Justin Kripps) both reiterated to me to now just bring that training to the race. It all contributed to two solid runs today.”

The Torontonian hadn’t seen the Canadian flag raised above the podium since the final race last season when she snagged the silver medal in Lillehammer, Norway.

“It made me so happy seeing that Canadian flag above the podium again. There was a little gust of wind during the podium ceremony where the two German flags were laying still, but the Canadian flag was blowing there on its own, and it made me smile.

“This will help me build my confidence back up. Things are now trending in the right direction, and I hope it all leads to peaking at the right time during the Olympics.”

Struggling to get into the medal mix early this season, Appiah began to find the fast lines in the final two races prior to the holiday break where she drove to eighth-place finishes.

Sitting in fourth place after the first decent down the 1,330-metre German track, the Olympian was not going to let this opportunity slip away. Appiah posted the fastest run in the final heat (59.38) to snag second place.

“I was a little surprised with the first run because I made a couple of mistakes early and thought I would be further back,” said Appiah. “But when I saw where I was at (fourth), I thought, okay, this is no longer survival mode and trying to get a second run like the previous races. It was a reminder that I am a competitor in this race too, let’s go for it. I brought that mentality into the second run where I just put it all out there.”

The Canadian trivia wiz, who achieved a lifelong dream of appearing on Jeopardy this fall, finished .16 behind Germany’s Laura Nolte who took the gold medal with a time of 1:58.37. First run leader, Germany’s Lisa Buckwitz, held onto the final spot of the podium (1:58.57) after a difficult second trip down her home track in Winterberg.

“It’s great to have the fastest run again. It’s something I haven’t had since the last Olympic season,” added Appiah. “To have the fastest down time in the second run, especially on a German track where you know it’s going to be a tough battle, is huge. To beat the Germans on their home track is an additional feather in my cap.”

Appiah has typically struggled on the sleepy challenging Winterberg track since winning the bronze medal in 2022 when the monobob discipline was being tested on the World Cup. She put those demons to rest on Saturday with the third and second-fastest start times in her two relatively clean runs.

“Winterberg is a pusher’s track. The faster you push, the easier you’re making your life,” said Appiah. “You can’t outdrive the start and there are not a lot of places to pick up speed, but there are lots of places to lose speed.”

Melissa Lotholz (Barrhead, Alta.) also continues to hold her speed against the world’s elite. Lotholz chalked up her fourth top six World Cup monobob finish in five races this season. Sixth off the block in both heats, the two-time Olympian was also sixth at the finish line again on Saturday with a combined time of 1:58.73.

Canada’s rookie pilot on the World Cup, Kristen Bujnowski (Mount Brydges, Ont.), was 14th at 1:59.08.

Complete Women’s Monobob Results:

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