Germany's Cathleen Martini, foreground, and Christin Senkel start their first run of the two-woman Bobsled World Cup race in Koenigssee, southern Germany, on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
January 26, 2014 - 7:09 AM
KONIGSSEE, Germany - Canada's Kaillie Humphries edged Elana Meyers of the United States by the slimmest of margins Sunday for the overall women's World Cup bobsled title, while Fabienne Meyer of Switzerland won the last race of the season.
Humphries finished with 1,629 points, one more than Meyers. If Humphries — the Olympic champion and now a two-time overall World Cup winner — was 0.03 seconds slower Sunday, Meyers would have won the title.
Meyer and Tanja Mayer had a two-run time of 1 minute, 44.01 seconds. Meyers and Aja Evans had a stellar second run to climb six spots and finish second, just ahead of Humphries and Heather Moyse.
"That was an unexpected finish to the season," Meyers said. "I knew it would take solid drives throughout the entire season, and I definitely couldn't have done it without my teammates, coaches and a great staff. All three pilots finished the season ranked in the top ten, and that's really incredible for Team USA."
Jazmine Fenlator and Lolo Jones of the U.S. were eighth, two spots ahead of teammates Jamie Greubel and Lauryn Williams. Greubel finished third in the season standings.
In the four-man race later Sunday, Steven Holcomb of the U.S. drove to his fourth win of the year.
The defending Olympic four-man champion and his team of Curt Tomasevicz, Steve Langton and Chris Fogt finished two runs in 1:38.54, edging the Swiss sled driven by Beat Hefti by a mere 0.09 seconds.
"Two awesome pushes from my guys," Holcomb said. "This is Curt's last (World Cup) race and we wanted to go out with a bang."
Lyndon Rush of Canada drove to the bronze-medal spot.
Holcomb medaled five times in eight four-man races this season, finishing second to Germany's Maximilian Arndt for the yearlong points title. Holcomb was the two-man season champion.
The U.S. led the overall standings for the season, winning 28 of the 72 World Cup medals awarded on the bobsled tour, claiming 12 more than any other nation. Holcomb drove to 10 medals to lead the men's pilots, while Meyers topped all women with seven.
News from © The Associated Press, 2014