Canadian bobsleigher Christine de Bruin wins bronze in monobob in Beijing 2022

Alongside American duo Kaillie Humphries and Elana Meyers Taylor, Canada's Christine de Bruin has made history at Beijing 2022.

The three of them became the first women to make it onto an Olympic podium in the women's monobob.

De Bruin was able to win bronze in the event that has been considered an exciting development for equality in the Olympic Winter Games and bobsleigh.

Making history

The Canadian was 0.22 seconds behind silver medalist Meyers Taylor, while she was 0.30 quicker than Laura Nolte (GER) and 0.43 ahead of Breeana Walker (AUS) in the final heat.

There were always signs that the 32-year-old was capable of making the podium, having come second in two of the previous three heats and third in the other.

Her teammate Cynthia Appiah struggled to find the line on the technical track and came eighth.

Racing 'El Diablo'

It is felt that monobob has the most even playing field possible, as all monobobs are standardised and manufactured by one producer.

While aspects such as the steering setups and seating positions can be tweaked, there isn't much opportunity to gain a competitive advantage - unlike the two-man, two-woman and four-man competitions.

“I really wanted to prove that I’m one of the best drivers in the world and I think with monobob you can really show that because we all have the same sled,” De Bruin said, as quoted by National Post. “So it’s really easy to say whoever is the best will do the best.”

De Bruin initially struggled to drive monobob and nicknamed hers 'El Diablo', as it was hell to ride when she started just over a year ago.

The Canadian has pedigree in the 2-woman bobsleigh, having won bronze twice at the World Championships, with a month-long driving camp in spring helping to unlock that sort of potential in the monobob.

She's since won back-to-back World Series in monobob and lived up to expectations as one of the athletes to watch in this category at the Games by winning bronze.

“I just could not figure it out,” de Bruin said earlier this season. “We went to [the camp in] Whistler, tinkered with it to make the sled more drivable, and just crushed runs like crazy. Lyndon Rush was driving them as well, so he knew how to coach us for monobob. Now we have a coach who really understands it and we have a lot more runs in them.”

More to come

There is more to come for De Bruin in the boblsleigh, as she will be part of one of three Canadian pairs taking part in the 2-woman event.

The 32-year-old will be teaming up with Kristen Bujnowski, who is competing in her first Olympic Winter Games - this will be De Bruin's second Olympic appearance in the 2-woman, after she came seventh at PyeongChang 2018.

2-woman will include two heats each day between Tuesday 15 February and Thursday 17 February, with the first heat of each day starting at 14:10 Beijing time (23:10 back in Alberta, Canada).

Heat 6 will see the event's medals decided, with De Bruin hoping that she will be on the podium again.