Canadian women bobslide to gold and silver

WHISTLER, British Columbia - They owned the bobsled track, and wouldn't let other racers play enough, so it made sense that they owned the podium.

The top Canadian sled Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse crushed the field by 0.85 seconds for gold. Canada-2, with Helen Upperton and Shelley-Ann Brown, took silver.

America's second sled, with Erin Pac and Elana Meyers, could not retain its second-place standing after three runs and finished 0.27 seconds out of second place to earn bronze.

The win and the second place electrifying the throaty crowd at the Whistler Slider Center eager for Canadian medals - however they were obtained. A chilling crash in each of the two heats yesterday marred the racing, a jittery mess all through the competition.

"I wish I'd had more practice runs," said USA-1 driver Shauna Rohbock, who finished sixth. "You have two of the best drivers in the world - one almost crashes on every run, Sandra, and one crashes, Martini - definitely the homefield advantage gave [Canada] the edge."

At least she and Germany-1 driver Sandra Kiriasis (fourth) finished.

Germany-2 flipped in the final run and spat out brakeman Romy Logsch, leaving driver Cathleen Martini skidding down the track, her head on the ice.

In the first heat of the night, the third heat of four over 2 days, Great Britain-1, with Nicola Minichiello and Gillian Cooke, flipped.

No racer was seriously hurt. But they might have been.

This is the same track where Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died in training the day of the opening ceremony.

Rohbock and Pac had said they thought the track was too fast, period, and way too fast to have access to it restricted. Canada restricted access to the track in all the sliding sports before the games - a common practice, but a practice often modified when a track is deemed particularly challenging.

Last night, sleds were tipping like SUVs.

"It's purely a reflection of lack of experience on the track," said Bree Schaff, driver of USA-3. "It feels like survival."

Coincidentally, everyone survived.

And Canada won.