Kaillie Humphries | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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Kaillie Humphries

Kaillie Humphries (née Simundson), bobsledder (born 4 September 1985 in Calgary, AB). Kaillie Humphries is the only woman to win three Olympic gold medals in bobsledding. At the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, she and Heather Moyse became the first Canadian women to win gold in the two-woman bobsled. They won gold again at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. Humphries won the 2014 Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada’s athlete of the year and won a bronze medal at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. She was also one of the first two women to compete in an international four-man bobsleigh competition. Humphries has alleged that she was “driven off” the Canadian bobsled team in 2019 after filing a harassment complaint against a coach. She obtained US citizenship in 2021 and competed for Team USA at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, where she won gold in women’s monobob. She is the only woman ever to win Olympic gold medals for two different countries.

Kallie Humphries

Early Years

Like many bobsledders, Kaillie Humphries did not start her athletic career as a bobsled driver. Until the age of 16, she was an alpine ski racer with dreams of Olympic gold. However, after realizing that she would probably not make the national team, Humphries turned to the bobsleigh. She spent her first four years as a brakeman and was named as an alternate to the Canadian team at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino.

Humphries was so disappointed not to compete in Torino she contemplated joining the British team, as she was eligible to apply for citizenship once she married Dan Humphries in April 2007. (Dan Humphries was a brakeman on the British bobsleigh team at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino.)

Europa Cup Career

The chance for Humphries to progress as an elite bobsled driver came in 2006–07. She won three events as a pilot and topped the overall 2006–07 Europa Cup standings. With Cruickshank, she won a silver medal at the 2007 World Junior Bobsleigh Championships in Altenberg, Germany. Expectations were on the rise after Humphries’s success in the Europa Cup (the highest level of bobsled’s developmental racing circuit).

Kaillie Humphries, right, and Chelsea Valois during the World Cup race in Innsbruck, Austria

World Cup Success

The following season (2007–08), Humphries finished on the podium in her rookie season on the World Cup circuit. Humphries and Shelley-Ann Brown of Pickering, Ontario, captured the bronze medal at a competition in Lake Placid, New York. Two more silver podium finishes followed in the 2008–09 season. Humphries and Brown placed second at a World Cup competition in Park City, Utah, while Moyse joined Humphries to win silver at a World Cup competition in Whistler, BC. The World Cup medal for Humphries and Moyse was significant as it came only one year before Whistler would host bobsleigh competitions at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games (the World Cup event was used as a test run for the host Olympic organizers). The success of Humphries and Moyse at the Whistler World Cup made them serious medal contenders at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

2010 Olympic Winter Games

Humphries won her first World Cup race only two months before the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. With Moyse as her brakeman, Humphries piloted the Canadian sled to victory at a World Cup race in Altenberg, Germany, the same site as her silver medal performance at the 2007 World Junior Bobsleigh Championship. Humphries and Moyse also won two more medals before the Olympics — a silver medal in Königssee, Germany, and a bronze medal in Igls, Austria.

Humphries’s major competition in the 2010 Olympic two-woman bobsled event included reigning world champion Cathleen Martini of Germany, reigning Olympic silver medallist Shauna Rohbock of the United States, and fellow Canadian Helen Upperton, who was now driving with Brown. However, neither Martini nor Rohbock would be able to match the speed of the Canadians.

On 20 February 2010, the first day of competition for women’s bobsled at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, Humphries and Moyse got off to a perfect start. In the first of four heats, they posted a time of 53.19 seconds. That beat the Whistler Sliding Centre track record of 53.53 seconds previously set by Rohbock in 2009.

One of Humphries and Moyse’s strengths was their start time (the time taken to get into the bobsled). In their first heat, Humphries and Moyse set a course record with a 5.12 second start time.

Humphries and Moyse then continued to set track records in heat two and heat three. They set a start time track record of 5.11 seconds in each heat and then posted track record times of 53.01 seconds and 52.85 seconds, respectively.

Heading into the fourth heat, Humphries and Moyse had a 0.57 second lead over Americans Erin Pac and Elana Meyers. In bobsled competition, this was a significant time advantage — one which the Americans could not hope to overcome. Instead, the real competition was for second place, between the American team and the second Canadian team. In an exciting finish, Upperton and Brown passed the American team and won the silver medal. Women’s bobsled was the only event at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver in which Canada finished first and second.

Humphries and Moyse, Gold Medal Run, Sochi 2014

World Champion

Since the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Humphries has had great success at the World Bobsleigh Championships. At the 2011 World Bobsleigh Championships in Königssee, Germany, Humphries and Moyse won the bronze medal. The following season (2011–12), Humphries had a new brakemen. Moyse had suffered an ankle injury while competing for Canada at the 2010 Women’s Rugby World Cup and took a break from bobsled in October 2011. Despite losing Moyse, Humphries finished third in the World Cup standings, working with either Emily Baadsvik of St. Stephen, New Brunswick, or Jennifer Ciochetti of Edmonton, Alberta. On 18 February 2012 in Lake Placid, New York, Humphries won her first World Championship with Ciochetti in the bobsled. She became the first Canadian female bobsled driver to win that title.

The following season (2012–13), was the best of Humphries’s career to that point. She won six of nine World Cup races as well as the 2013 World Bobsleigh Championships at St. Moritz, Switzerland. Her new brakeman was Chelsea Valois of Carrot River, Saskatchewan.

2014 Olympic Winter Games

Heading into the 2014 Olympic season, it was announced that Moyse would reunite with Humphries. Moyse was back in top form, having won the very first World Push Challenge in Calgary on 23 November 2013.

A week later, on 30 November 2013, Humphries and Moyse won the first World Cup event of the season at Calgary’s Canada Olympic Park. Their start time of 5.45 seconds in their second run was a track record. Humphries and Moyse went on to win World Cup events in Lake Placid, New York, and St. Moritz, Switzerland, on their way to winning the World Cup title.

At the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Humphries and Moyse found themselves a significant 0.23 seconds behind American rivals Elana Meyers and Lauryn Williams after run two. However, they were the fastest team down the track in the third run, and cut 0.12 seconds off the Americans’ time. In the fourth run, Humphries and Moyse were 0.21 seconds faster than Meyers and Williams, and won their second consecutive Olympic Gold medal by a tenth of a second.

Near the end of the 2014 Games, Humphries and Moyse were chosen by the Canadian Olympic Committee to be Canada’s flag-bearers in the closing ceremonies. According to the Calgary Herald, Humphries was delighted to carry the flag: “This has been such a great Games for Canada and leading the team into the Closing Ceremony is the cherry on top of a fantastic couple of weeks. I am so honoured.”

Competing in Four-Man Bobsleigh

Humphries has continued to break records since winning her second Olympic championship at Sochi in 2014. In November 2014, she became one of the first two women — with American Elana Meyers Taylor — to compete in international four-man bobsleigh competition.

In September 2014, the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation announced that, for the first time, mixed-gender crews could compete in four-man bobsleigh (there is no separate four-woman bobsleigh event). On 1 November, Humphries piloted a team comprising Daniel Dale, Joey Nemet and D.J. McLelland to a bronze-medal finish at the Canadian championships, which qualified them for international competition. Two weeks later, Humphries piloted the crew to a sixth-place finish at a North American Cup race in Park City, Utah. American pilot Elana Meyers Taylor and her (male) team finished seventh.

On 23 November, Humphries and Meyers Taylor finished second and third, respectively, at a North American Cup race in Calgary. They became the first women to reach the podium in an international four-man competition. They also became the first women to race in a World Cup four-man event, finishing 15th and 16th at a race in Calgary on 20 December. The same month, Humphries received the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada’s athlete of the year.

Humphries’s team finished 18th out of 34 in the four-man World Cup standings. The team piloted by Meyers Taylor placed 25th. Humphries continued to compete in two-woman bobsleigh. She finished second overall in 2014–15, this time with Melissa Lotholz (Meyers Taylor won the women’s title).


On 9 January 2016, Humphries piloted an all-female team (with Lotholz, Cynthia Appiah and Genevieve Thibault) in a World Cup race in Lake Placid, New York. They were the first women’s crew to compete in four-man bobsleigh. Since the crew weighed about 300 lbs less than most of the other (male) teams, it was not a surprise that they finished last. However, Humphries hoped that the race would help generate support for a separate four-woman division in international bobsled competition.

At the end of the 2015–16 season, Humphries won her third overall World Cup title — her first with Lotholz as brakeman. The pair also won silver in the world championships that season. In 2016–17, Humphries and Lotholz won silver in both the world championships and the World Cup overall standings.

2018 Olympic Winter Games

Humphries had a strong season in 2017–18, winning her fourth World Cup title in women’s bobsleigh. She shared the honour with brakemen Melissa Lotholz and Phylicia George, a two-time Summer Olympian in hurdles who made her bobsleigh debut that season. There was considerable speculation about who would serve as Humphries’ brakeman at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang. Lotholz and George were considered the top contenders in the lead-up to the Games.

At the 2018 Games, Humphries and George finished third with a time of 3:22.89, after Germany’s Mariama Jamanka and Lisa Buckwitz (3:22.45) and the United States’ Elana Meyers Taylor and Lauren Gibbs (3:22.52). Despite losing her Olympic title to Jamanka, Humphries was pleased with the result, particularly as she and George were in fifth place after two of four runs and had to fight their way up. The bronze medal made her the most decorated Canadian bobsledder in Olympic history, breaking a tie with Pierre Lueders.

Kaillie Humphries and Phylicia George, PyeongChang 2018

Activism

Humphries is affiliated with several meaningful causes, including the “I’ve Been Bullied” campaign, which informs people of the long-term effects of bullying. Through the campaign, Humphries has spoken about her personal experience as a victim of bullying, and discusses the importance of eliminating bullying in sports.

Humphries has also made a difference through “Right to Play,” an organization that uses sport and play to “educate and empower” children facing poverty, disease and conflict. As an Athlete Ambassador, Humphries traveled to Liberia in April 2011 with another Canadian Olympic gold medallist, gymnast Kyle Shewfelt. Humphries and Shewfelt brought sports equipment and set up sports programs for the underprivileged children and youth in the area.

Humphries is also active with the Special Olympics and speaks regularly at Calgary elementary schools about the importance of physical activity, setting goals, and saying “no” to drugs.


Harassment Complaint and Lawsuit

In early October 2018, Humphries announced on Twitter that she would be “stepping away from racing” for the upcoming season. In January 2019, she revealed to CBC News that this was because she had filed a harassment complaint with Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton (BCS). “I found myself in a position where my workplace environment was impaired and I couldn't compete,” she said. “I filed it before the season and so I can't talk too much about all of the details and how it goes. Currently the investigation is still going on.”

Humphries’s complaint was forwarded to a third party for an independent investigation. She did not initially disclose the kind of harassment she was alleging. By September 2019, it had come to light that her claim was against former coach Todd Hays. Humphries claimed that he was verbally and mentally abusive towards her during the 2017–18 season.

Humphries also alleged that she was “driven off” the Canadian bobsled team after filing the complaint, and that Hays took steps to prevent her from competing. Humphries sued BCS for $45 million for breaching their contract’s code of conduct and refusing to release her from the team so that she could compete for the United States. She also asked the courts for an injunction that would force BCS to release her, but this was denied by the Court of Queen’s Bench in Calgary on 17 September. A day earlier, on 16 September, BCS announced that it had completed its investigation into Humphries’s harassment complaint. It determined that there was not enough evidence to support her allegations.


US Citizenship

Also in September 2019, Humphries married former US bobsledder Travis Armbruster in San Diego, California. On 2 December 2021, Humphries officially became a US citizen at a ceremony in San Diego, clearing the path for her to compete for Team USA at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. Only days after her citizenship ceremony in California, Humphries won titles in monobob and two-woman bobsled at the World Cup in Altenberg, Germany.

At the Beijing Olympics, Humphries won gold in the debut of women’s monobob with a time of 4:19.27. It was 1.54 seconds faster than the second-place finisher, making it the biggest margin of victory in Olympic women’s bobsledding history. Humphries became the first woman (and only the third athlete) ever to win Olympic gold medals for two different countries. She is also the only woman to win three Olympic gold medals in bobsledding.

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