PYEONGCHANG, South Korea – Heather Moyse has no regrets.
The Summerside native and Edmonton’s Alysia Rissling completed the two-woman bobsleigh competition at the 2018 Winter Olympics in sixth place on Wednesday.
Moyse, who is the brakeman, and pilot Rissling finished with a time of 3:23.63. After posting runs of 50.81 and 50.95 seconds in Tuesday’s first two heats for seventh place, Moyse and Rissling stopped the clock in 50.83 and 51.04 on Wednesday.
“I couldn’t be happier,” said Moyse. “This girl has so much potential in this sport. . . I feel so lucky to have been part of the early stages of her experience. It’s pretty cool and been pretty exciting.”
Moyse, P.E.I.’s first four-time Olympian, won back-to-back gold medals with pilot Kaillie Humphries at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics. She also just missed winning a bronze medal with pilot Helen Upperton by five-one-hundredths of a second in 2006.
Moyse had retired from the sport, and had declined an offer from Humphries to join forces and pursue a gold-medal hat trick. However, an Instragram message from Rissling a few months later changed that.
“It’s been incredible actually,” said Moyse following Wednesday’s action. “Me coming back, there were moments at the beginning where I was like, ‘What on earth did I do?
“Those moments usually came when my body was reminding me I’m 39. But the experience with Alysia has been remarkable. Being able to kind of physically step into a role that I talk to people about all the time in terms of focus, priorities and execution and expectations and all those things to reach high performance. It’s been awesome to be able to step into that role, and also do it in a way that is in line with my own values.”
The Canadian team of Humphries and brakeman Phylicia George won bronze with a combined time of 3:22.89.
The German team of pilot Mariama Jamanka and brakeman Lisa Buckwitz had a gold-medal-winning time of 3:22.45.
Pilot Elana Meyers Taylor and brakeman Lauren Gibbs of the United States took silver with a time of 3:22.52.
RELATED:
- Almost time for Moyse, Rissling to compete at Winter Games
- Heather Moyse will have family and friends in the stands at Pyeongchang Olympic Games
- Heather Moyse celebrating launch of first book
- Summerside's Heather Moyse is ready to return to bobsleigh
Canada’s third sled of pilot Christine De Bruin and brakeman Melissa Lotholz finished seventh, right behind Moyse and Rissling, at 3:23.89.
“We came in with no expectations of results,” said Rissling, 29. “We came in with expectations of a game plan in how we were going to execute, and what we were going to try and do in terms of pushing, how I drove and consistency.
“We didn’t set a result goal, so there is nothing to make or break there, but we are overall happy with the effort and the way we pursued our game plan.”
[email protected]
Twitter.com/JpsportsJason
https://www.facebook.com/jason.simmonds.180
