The Canadian team continued their domination over the field at the second 2011-12 America's Cup race held in Park City, Utah November 10.
After the men swept the podium the previous evening, the women followed suit tonight with Cassie Hawrysh taking the gold for a second time, Randee Brookes moving up a step to the silver spot, and Madison Charney rounded out the top three. Despite a close encounter with an ice chunk and some ensuing drama on the start of her second run, Hawrysh used almost a full-second lead from heat one to clinch first with a combined time of 1:42.95. Brookes and Charney finished within one hundredths of each other, with total times of 1:43.64 and 1:43.65 respectively. The pendulum swung in favour of Elizabeth Vathje tonight, who leaped up three positions from the previous evening, finishing fifth in the field of 11 women, with a time of 1:44.30.
On the men's side, Paul Fraser faced some stiff competition on the start as American Mike Dellemann joined the race and led after the first heat. Fraser came back with a start time fifteen hundredths better than his first and slid into the gold medal spot with a combined time of 1:40.60, leaving Dellemann more than half a second behind at 1:41.14. John Worden took bronze for a second consecutive night, clocking in only a tenth behind the American at 1:41.26, while Ian Mills slid to a respectable fourth-place finish at 1:41.37. Rounding out the Canadian contingent, Alexis Morris finished ninth with a total time of 1:42.71, leaving the entire team with top-ten finishes in the field of 21 sliders.
The Youth Olympic Games Qualifiers were also held for a second evening, and the younger Canadians followed in the footsteps of their senior counterparts, claiming gold in both the men's and women's fields. Sitting in second after the first heat, Carli Brockway moved up the podium to win the race in a time of 1:44.69, while Corey Gillies dominated for a second night in a row to take first with a total time of 1:42.48, more than a second ahead of the rest of the field of eight. Canadian Blake Rayner was sitting in sixth after the first heat, but was disqualified for having an overweight sled.
Full results are available at http://utaholympiclegacy.com/pages/americas-cup-bobsled-skeleton.
The Canadian team now returns to Calgary to face off in the third and fourth America's Cup races with home advantage on November 13 and 14 at 1 pm both days.
