Call it foreshadowing.
Before Melissa Lotholz had officially joined the Canadian Bobsleigh team, she had a conversation with a friend of hers she met while running as part of the University of Alberta track team.
The pair said almost as a joke that it wouldn’t it be nice if they could both compete at the same Olympic games together.
Little did Lotholz know that not only would they both end up going to the Olympics together in the same sport, but share the same sled.
The friend is Christine de Bruin and with Lotholz and as her brakeman the pair finished in seventh at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
“It is really cool how things came around full circle and to be able to say that we did that,” Lotholz said. “It has been a privilege and a blessing to be long-time friends and see each other’s journey and support each other through the moments of success and victory, but the struggles and the not so fun moments.”
Of course, Lotholz considers the PyeongChang Olympics as one of the successes.
Going into the competition Lotholz said there were not a lot of people who believed they were going to be as successful as they were, noting that prior to the Olympics the pair had limited time together.
Going into the season many considered Lotholz to be a front-runner to pair with what many people consider to be Canada’s top pilot Kaillie Humphries.
And for the first half of the 2017-2018, it looked like she was well on her way. In the first four races of the season, before Christmas, in Canada One, Humphries and Lotholz dominated the track, finishing with three podium finishes — first place in Lake Placid, second in Park City and first in Whistler. In the fourth race, in Winterburg, Germany, the duo finished just off the podium in fourth.
In the second half of the season, George teamed with Humphries, while Lotholz played a supporting role, competing once in the final three races of the season in St. Moritz, Switzerland in an effort to qualify pilot Christine de Bruin in Canada’s third sled. It turns out Lotholz was nursing an injury one that was still bothering her right until the pre-Olympic camp just before Canada’s official skeleton and bobsleigh Olympic team was announced Jan. 24.
de Bruin also had limited time on the World Cup circuit in large part due to injuries.
“Christine and I surprised a lot of people. We were very focused and concentrated on what we could control and we were supportive of each and just try to put our best foot forward each time,” she said.
On the first day after their first run, the pair found themselves in 13th place in their heat 0.42 seconds behind the leaders. In their second heat, de Bruin and Lotholz finished in fourth place just behind Canada One and Humphries and George.
In their heats on Day 2, they finished sixth and 12th respectively.
“Once I get into the back of the sled there is not much you can do so you are a nervous, but I can remember thinking wow she is just nailing this run and I was so proud and excited for her,” Lotholz said, adding those were feelings she had for the entire women’s bobsleigh team.
She added that even though Humphries and her brakeman won gold at the two previous Olympics she considers PyeongChang the most successful games for the women’s squad with three Canadian sleds in the Top Ten. Humphries and George took home the bronze while Alysia Rissling and Heather Moyse finished sixth.
“It is such an accomplishment,” Lotholz said. “Not only to have all the sleds do so well but to qualify three sleds for the Olympics, something we have never done before, it just shows you how strong our program really is and it is something I am so proud and honoured to have been a part of.”
