Kaillie Humphries dominated the field to win gold for the USA in the women’s monobob at the Beijing Winter Games.
It is Canada-born Humphries’ fourth Olympic medal but first for her adopted country, having only received American citizenship a few weeks’ ago.
She was 1.54 seconds clear of team-mate Elana Meyers Taylor, with Canada’s Christine de Bruin taking bronze.
Meyers Taylor was only released from isolation last week after a positive covid test on her arrival in Beijing.
As well as disrupting her preparations, it also meant she was separated from her two-year-old son, with the 37-year-old bursting into tears when it was confirmed she would win a medal.
“I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream, I wanted to laugh – all the emotions just came out,” said Meyers Taylor. “This feels like more than gold, I am happy to the moon with this medal.
“At one point, I was just trying to make it to the race, so to be here now and a silver medallist, it feels so amazing.”
Humphries, 36, won gold for Canada in 2010 and 2014 and a bronze in 2018 but quit the national team three years ago after making allegations of abuse and harassment against a coach.
She represented the USA instead but needed citizenship in order to compete at the Olympics, which was only granted at the start of December.
“This will always hold a special place in my heart, my first for the USA,” said Humphries.
Parrot sets up shot at second gold
Three years after being diagnosed with cancer, Canadian snowboarder Max Parrot will have the chance to win a second Olympic gold medal in Beijing after topping the standings in the men’s big air qualifying.
Parrot, 27, claimed slopestyle gold last week with the “best run of his life” – though there was some controversy over the judging of his second run.
Diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in late 2018, Parrot’s score of 164.75 saw him end qualifying 4.75 points clear of Japan’s Takeru Otsuka, as defending champion Sebastien Toutant went out.
“I don’t want to sit on my gold medal when I know I can maybe get another one,” he said.
“What happened to me three years ago definitely changed me as an athlete and as a person. I am a better person now, I’m a better athlete now,” he added.
“I’m really more grateful than ever of just living and be able to do my passion everyday. I wouldn’t change a thing.”
In ice hockey, Canada’s women reached the Olympic final for the seventh consecutive Games following a 10-3 win over Switzerland.
Canada, four-time champions since the title was first contested in 1998, have met the USA in the final for the past three Winter Olympics.
Defending champions the USA, who beat Canada 3-2 in the 2018 final, face Finland in the other semi-final at 13:10 GMT.
Elsewhere on Monday, France’s four-time figure skating world champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron won ice dance gold, finishing ahead of Russians Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov in silver, and Americans Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue in bronze.
It came on a day when Russian Kamila Valieva was told she can compete again at the Games after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) decided that no provisional suspension should be imposed on the 15-year-old after she failed a drugs test.
Source: bbc
