For his Olympic baptism, Quebecer Samuel Giguère and his teammates took 11th place after two runs in the four-man bobsleigh on Friday evening, Quebec time, at the Beijing Games.
The former football player is part of the second Canadian crew, the one piloted by Vancouverite of Australian origin Christopher Spring. The bobsledders did a great job completing their first run in 59.10s, before posting a time of 59.33s on their second attempt.
Giguère, as a side pusher, was able to put all his explosiveness into action on the starts.
Spring, seventh in the two-man with brakeman Mike Evelyn, is looking for a first top 10 in the foursome at the Olympic Games. He had finished 13th in Sochi and 16th in Pyeongchang. He is only a hundredth away from achieving this feat, a rank currently held by Romania.
Remember that in parallel with his football career, Giguère began his first international competitions in bobsleigh in 2013. The native of Sherbrooke lined up for the Indianapolis Colts, in the NFL, but also the Montreal Alouettes in the Canadian Football League.
Justin Kripps, doubles gold medalist in 2018, is the best Canadian driver after two races, he who led his crew to the provisional third place. They are only 0.38s behind Francesco Friedrich’s Germans in the first echelon. Another German sled, piloted by Johannes Lochner, holds second place halfway through the race, he who is three hundredths behind the lead.
The third Maple Leaf team, led by Alberta’s Taylor Austin, settled for the 21st fastest time. She is 2.48s behind the leaders.
De Bruin well in the saddle
After her bronze medal in the monobob on Monday night, the Canadian Christine de Bruin is well placed to climb the podium for a second time in Beijing, this time in the two-woman bobsleigh on Friday morning.
Accompanied by her partner Kristen Bujnowski, the Albertan moved into fourth place after two runs with a total time of 2 min 03.21 s (1:01.45 and 1:01.76). The representatives of the maple leaf are 1.16 s from the top of the ranking, occupied by the German pair formed by Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi.
De Bruin and Bujnowski took advantage of a rare misstep by American Kaillie Humphries to move up a rank. The monobob winner and three-time Olympic gold medalist had to settle for the ninth fastest timer on her second run.
Among the other Canadians, Cynthia Appiah and Dawn Richardson Wilson are the highest ranked, in eighth place. They are only 1.59 s from first place.