When Melissa Lotholz visited Konigssee, Germany with her family, she had no idea she would be visiting the city again, this time as part of the Canadian Bobsleigh team.
“When I was here last time I did not even go see the bobsleigh track,” Lotholz joked.
However, on this trip, not only did Lotholz visit the track, she got an up close and personal view as part of Canada’s National Bobsleigh Team, and Kaillie Humphries’ Canada 1 sled.
Humphries is one of the world’s best bobsleigh drivers and is a two-time Olympic gold medalist (2010 and 2014) in the woman’s two-person event. Recently, Humphries, along with American Elana Meyers, became the first two women ever to compete in the four-man bobsleigh event, which until this season has been the domain of men only.
When the Leader first spoke to Lotholz, (Dec. 2 issue) she was busy preparing for the upcoming World Cup bobsleigh season in Calgary.
Since then Lotholz and the rest of Team Canada teammates went to France for a training camp and two preseason competitions, before returning to North America and Lake Placid, New York in mid-December to start the season in earnest.
“The last couple of months have been a real whirlwind that’s for sure,” Lotholz said, in a telephone interview from her hotel room in Konigssee, on one of the few off days she had and one day after team Humphries placed fifth place in the two person event.
“I didn’t race yesterday. It was my teammate Kate O’Brian who was Kallie’s brakewoman,” she said.
Team Humphries two person team always has two brakewomen travelling with her. Depending on the week, how the brake person feels or is performing at any given time, it can be either Lotholz or O’Brian who takes the seat behind Humphries.
“It’s a decision that is made between the driver and the coaches,” Lotholz said, adding another reason to have a person sit out at a particular event is to make sure everyone is getting their proper rest.
“Although as an athlete, you’re never happy sitting a competition out, but sometimes it’s good,” Lotholz said, adding it gave her the chance to help behind the scenes and see how much effort it takes the support team to have the best performance possible on race day.
So far this season Team Humphries is doing well.
In the first World Cup race in Lake Placid, New York, the Humphries sled finished in fifth place, followed by a third place finish in Calgary.
“Placing third in Calgary, was really great, but we’re always pushing ourselves to do better,” Lotholz said. “That’s the mentality in sport. You have to be happy knowing you put in your best effort, but never being satisfied. It’s a fine line.”
Making it more difficult is the role that technology has in bobsleigh. Even though an athlete has prepared and performed as can be expected, in a sport where hundredths of a second can mean the difference from a gold medal and finishing in 10th place, Lotholz said technology can make a big difference.
Although, she said Team Canada and Humphries team have good sleds, the team is playing catch-up with some of the other nations.
“The Americans, with their BMW sleds are really fast and on the women’s side the Belgians are really doing well with their technology,” Lotholz said, adding that in the future Canada is hoping to be able to compete and get the same or better equipment. “Technology is not the end-all and be-all, but it an important part of the marriage between the push, and the drive to make us successful.”
After Calgary, Team Canada got a chance to take a break and enjoy the Christmas season.
“I spent 10 days in Barrhead, with my family, unwinding, resting and doing the normal things my family does for the holidays,” Lotholz said, although she did admit to sneaking in a training session or two.
On Dec. 30 Lotholz boarded a plane to resume the World Cup season in Altenburg, Germany.
“Altenburg is one of the more technical tracks in terms of driving and Kaillie is one of the best drivers, male or female in the world of bobsled, so that really put us in good stead,” she said.
In the end, Team Humphries finished in third place winning the bronze medal, behind the Americans and the Belgians.
Once again, Lotholz said while the team was happy with their effort and performance overall, they are not satisfied with the result.
She said the pair were happy that they made up ground with the German team. In the first two World Cup races, both the Americans and the Germans were consistently faster.
“The difference is the push start,” Lotholz said. “Not only does that translate into raw time at the top, but if you are pushing faster at the top you have a faster velocity going down the course, and better overall times.”
She said Team Canada as a whole is working on improving their push times.
“In the past you could get away with a slower start, if you had good driving, but now with everyone so close, getting off to a great start is so important,” Lotholz said.
Although, the push start is such an important part of the race, it can be difficult to practice during the World Cup season.
When the team is training at their home base in Calgary the team can practice their push starts as much as they want in a special facility called the Ice House.
The building contains a short section of flat track designed to simulate the start section of a bobsleigh track.
When they are on the World Cup circuit, the actual push start and driving training is limited to two practice runs a day on non-race days.
“Sometimes at certain tracks we are able to pay for extra runs, but we do not always have the money to so,” Lotholz said, adding that staying in top physical condition is also a challenge.
“The push start is about power and speed,” she said. “Yes technique is also involved, but mostly it’s about bulk power.”
Adding to the difficulty in building the power is the travel and living conditions. While on the road athletes live out of a hotel and eat in restaurants most days and end up traveling 20 to 30 minutes to find an appropriate gym.
However, one of the biggest challenges, Lotholz said is finding the difference in culture and language.
That is why she said it is so important for athletes to receive messages from home by not only family, but other well wishers.
“It is huge to see all the support I have from Instagram, Facebook and Twitter,” Lotholz said. “Seeing people excited about my journey reminds me I’m not alone and they’re right there with me.”
