Canada's bobsleigh pilot Melissa Lotholz at the start of the women's monobob race at the Bobsleigh and Skeleton World Championships in Altenberg, Germany, on Feb.13, 2021.Matthias Schrader/The Associated Press
Canada’s Melissa Lotholz and Skylar Sieben claimed bronze in their two-woman bobsled race at the final World Cup event of the season on Sunday.
The result came after a last-minute decision to insert Sieben for Leah Walkeden as the brakewoman in Lotholz’s sled. Walkeden decided to withdraw Sunday after battling illness all week.
Lotholz, a two-time Olympian from Barrhead, Alta., earned her first podium in 20 World Cup starts as a pilot. She has 19 World Cup and world championship medals as a brakewoman.
Lotholz and Sieben, of Cochrane, Alta., finished 0.96 seconds behind gold medallists Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi of Germany, who also topped the podium at the 2022 Olympics.
Fellow Germans Lisa Buckwitz and Neele Schuten were 0.20 seconds back of the lead in second.
Nolte is the overall World Cup winner in two-woman bobsled for a third consecutive season.