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Getting close to crunch time

Barrhead bobsledder Melissa Lotholz continues to work towards earning a spot on the Canadian Olympic Team
Lotholz Canada Day fundraiser copy
Bobsledder Melissa Lotholz explains monobob to Raymond Steele during a Canada Day fundraiser at the West of the 5th Distillery. Funds raised at the event went towards purchasing an extra pair of runners for her sled as well as to offset training expenses for a prolonged testing camp at the national team's base in Calgary.

BARRHEAD- Barrhead native Melissa Lotholz remains in the hunt for one of the elusive bobsleigh pilots and monobob positions for the upcoming Bejing 2022 Winter Olympics starting in early February.

That is what Lotholz told the Barrhead Leader on Jan. 4, the last day of her 10-day quarantine after she and 13 other members of the Canadian Bobsleigh Team (including nine athletes) tested positive for COVID-19.

On Dec. 30, the team announced that 14 members had tested positive for COVID-19 before a World Cup event in Sigulda, Latvia.

As a result, Canada only iced two sleighs, one on the men's side and one on the women's. The men's sleigh was piloted by Justin Kripps, while the woman's by Christine De Bruin.

"(My) quarantine is over bright and early tomorrow morning," she said, adding that she would be leaving the rest of the Canadian squad for Winterberg, Germany, for the World Cup next event.

As part of the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation's (IBSF) COVID safety protocol, athletes must undergo biweekly (lateral flow) rapid testing, once at the beginning of the race week and once right before the competition.

Following the Christmas break, which the team spent in Latvia training, Lotholz said everyone had to take a lateral flow test one day before their regular rapid testing day to re-enter the "sliding bubble."

"Once a couple of my teammates tested positive on the rapid test, the entire team underwent daily PCR testing," she said.

As for what sitting out for one event will mean for Lotholz's chances of securing a pilot's seat in the two-women or monobob events in Bejing, she doesn't believe it will have a negative impact, at least for her.

"For me, since the current qualification rules allow us to drop a single two-person result and a couple of monobob results, missing one race weekend will not hinder my Olympic qualification," she stated.

Upon further reflection, Lotholz believes not being able to ice a complete line-up in the women's two-person event might put Canada in a better position to qualify the maximum of three sleighs.

"The international Olympic quotas on the women's side are a little confusing this year," she said. "The combined rank uses a pilot's seven best women's two-person results and the five best monobob results. Since the regular season hosts eight races of each discipline at every circuit, this means that we get to drop races in our Olympic qualifying tally. Having two women's sleighs miss this last race weekend due to COVID is actually good news for Team Canada."

She added that Canada is in good position to qualify the maximum two monobobs.

Chris Dornan, spokesperson for Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton, said that for the two-woman event, the top two ranked nations automatically get a third sleigh. For the other nations, to get a third slot, their third ranked pilot must be in the “top two of every other countries’ third athlete.”           

For the monobob, he said the process is less complicated in that the top four countries are able to field two sleds, while 12 countries ice one monobob.

Lotholz is a veteran of the Canadian Bobsleigh team, having joined in the fall of 2014. For the first four years, she would compete as a breakman, mostly for Canadian pilot Kaillie Humphries, accumulating 17 World Cup medals, including two World Championship silver medals in the process. Lotholz also competed at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, teaming up with fellow Albertan, Christine De Bruin, and placing seventh. 

After the Olympics, Lotholz decided to turn her energy to competing from the front seat and learned to become a pilot. 

In the first two events of the season in Innsbruck, Austria, Lotholz finished in fifth and 11th in the monobob and ninth and 11th position in the two-women event with two different brakemen, Sara Villani and Erica Voss.

In week three, in Altenberg, Austria, Lotholz finished in 18th place in the monobob after crashing in her second run and finishing 11th in the two-women event, where she was teamed once again with Villani. The next week, in Winterberg, Germany, Lotholz finished sixth in the monobob and 11th in the two-person event, paired with Villani. The team found themselves back in Altenburg for week five where Lotholz finished ninth in the monobob and seventh in the two-person event, with Villani. 

Week six would have been the Sigulda, Latvia event. On week seven, the circuit returned to Winterberg where Lotholz finished sixth in the monobob, behind top Canadian Cynthia Appiah. In the two-woman event, she finished 18th, being paired with her most frequent brakeman, Villani.  The World Cup season wraps up in Saint Mortiz, Switzerland, host of next year's World Championships.

After the conclusion of those events, on Jan. 16, Lotholz said that the Olympic quotas will be known.

Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com

 

 


Barry Kerton

About the Author: Barry Kerton

Barry Kerton is the managing editor of the Barrhead Leader, joining the paper in 2014. He covers news, municipal politics and sports.
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