Canadian women's bobsleigh teams win gold, silver

Calgary, P.E.I., Ontario athletes top podium

Last Updated: Thursday, February 25, 2010 | 3:15 AM ET

By Justin Piercy, CBC Sports

Canadian bobsleigh competitors, from left to right, Heather Moyse, Helen Upperton, Kaillie Humphreys and Shelley-Ann Brown celebrate their Olympic gold and silver medals at the Whistler Sliding Centre on Wednesday. (Mathew McCarthy/Canadian Press)

Canada captured its first-ever Olympic medals in women's bobsleigh Wednesday, taking both gold and silver at the Vancouver Games.

Kaillie Humphries of Calgary and Heather Moyse of Summerside, P.E.I., took top spot in the two-man event with a combined four-run time of three minutes 32.28 seconds, including a track record of 52.85 seconds on their third run at the Whistler Sliding Centre.

"It felt great coming up the outrun and having coaches put up the No. 1 finger and cheering,'' Humphries said. "It was a bit of relief. We did it!"

The Canada 2 tandem of Helen Upperton of Calgary and Shelley-Ann Brown of Pickering, Ont., was 85-100ths of a second behind Canada 1 for the silver medal.

Americans Erin Pac and Elana Meyers took bronze with a time of 3:33:40.

The difference between the top eight teams heading into the final two heats was less than a second, but Humphries and Moyse — who led the pack with 1:46.20 in their first two runs — blasted out of the gate on the day's first run.

That run of 52.85 set the bar for good on a course record that had fallen four times Tuesday, and Humphries and Moyse cruised over the finish line with a fourth run of 53.23 to wrap up the top spot.

3rd run time key

Upperton and Brown were 2-100ths of a second out of third spot entering Wednesday's races, trailing Germany 2 team of Cathleen Martini and Romy Logsch.

But a third run time of 53.17 for Canada 2 put them 3-100ths of a second ahead of Germany 2 heading into the final run.

That final run was disastrous for Martini and Logsch, whose crash may not have injured them but did force their disqualification, opening the door wider for Upperton and Brown to secure a medal position.

"I didn't want to play it safe," Upperton said. "I really wanted to put it all out there and not regret anything."

Canada 2's last run of 53:17 put Upperton and Brown in first position with a combined 3:33.13, a position they held as Pac and Meyers had a relatively slow final run of 53:78 to drop them to second, and eventually third, as Humphries and Moyse took the win on the final race of the night.