Sunday, December 16, 2001
Fraser falls short of goal
By CAMERON MAXWELL -- Calgary Sun
Luckily for Christine Fraser, there's always tomorrow, or in this case, today.
Needing a top six finish at yesterday's Visa World Cup bobsleigh event to guarantee herself a spot at the Olympics, Fraser, piloting the Canada I sled, finished a disappointing 14th thanks to a gamble before the race that backfired.
"The runs overall weren't all that bad ... I evidently picked the wrong runners for today because it stayed cold and I thought it was going to get warm," said Fraser, who was piloting brakeman Paula McKenzie, considered Canada's best.
"It didn't (get warm) so that's part of it and a loss right from the beginning."
The temperature dropped as the morning went on and the mercury didn't rise until the sun came out when the race ended.
The Germany II sled of Susi Erdmann took the gold medal with a two-run combined time of 1 minute 55.03 seconds, followed by Switzerland's Francoise Burdet (1:55.08) and the Germany I sled of Sandra Prokoff, which was third with a time of 1:55.45.
The Canada II sled driven by Calgary's Christina Smith was ninth with a 1:56.59 clocking.
Now it's do or die for Fraser with today being her last chance to secure that all-important top six with the second Calgary World Cup -- the last women's World Cup competition of the season.
"There's another day (today) so we're going to go for it," said Fraser, whose best finish so far this season was eighth place in Igls, Austria last month.
And look for McKenzie, who wasn't happy with the start on the second run, to help get the sled off to a much better start than the 5.90 seconds they had run two.
"Christine and I, we always get better in the hunt, when we're fighting -- we'll do better tomorrow," she vowed.
Things aren't as tense for Smith, who already qualified for Salt Lake City thanks to a fourth place finish in Igls.
Her ninth place result moved her into ninth place, one spot ahead of Fraser in the World Cup standings.
Like Fraser, Smith also went with warmer weather runners.
"I usually go with one favourite set and today I thought I've got to take my chances (on different runners)," said the 32-year-old, who was supported by brakeman Suzanne Gavine-Hlady because of a hamstring injury to Lesa Stringer.
Given yesterday's events, the notoriously unpredictable Calgary weather could be a factor when racing starts this morning at 9 a.m.
2002 Games Bobsled Coverage
