WHISTLER, B.C. — Jeannie Godfrey arrived at the finish dock with tears in her eyes, looking for the bobsledders her late husband cared for so much.
When she found them, the trio embraced and smiled after what has been a difficult few weeks.
Yunjong Won and Youngwoo Seo raced to South Korea's first-ever World Cup bobsled gold on Friday night, tying Switzerland's Rico Peter and Thomas Amrhein with a two-run time of one minute 43.41 seconds.
The victory meant even more to the South Koreans after coach Malcolm (Gomer) Lloyd died suddenly earlier this month at age 68.
"This is fantastic," said Godfrey. "Their first gold, my husband, I know he's here and with them. I know he pushed them to here. I'm so proud of them."
A former coach of the Canadian program, Lloyd continued to live in Calgary with his family while leading the South Koreans the last two years.
"He loved this team. They respected him and he respected them," said Godfrey. "They've gone all out for him since his death. I'm just so proud and so happy I can be part of this moment."
Won and Seo had already won three bronze medals this season, but were looking to make a big breakthrough for their young program.
"Tonight we achieved a lot," Won said through a translator. "It means a lot because of Gomer ... it was a really difficult time."
Alexander Kasjanov and Aleksei Pushkarev of Russia rounded out the podium with a time of 1:43.42 — just .01 seconds behind the victors.
Chris Spring and Lascelles Brown, both of Calgary, tied for fifth in 1:43.56, while Justin Kripps of Summerland, B.C., and Alexander Kopacz of London, Ont., were eighth in 1:43.67.
Kripps was fourth after the first run and had a chance at a medal after Germany's Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis — third at the halfway mark — pulled out because of injury.
But the Canadians made a mistake early on their second trip down the 16-corner, 1,450-metre track and couldn't recover.
"That's how it goes in Whistler," said Kripps. "It's really technical. It's really hard. You have to put together two runs and we fell a bit short."
Spring, meanwhile, had the fastest second run of any team after a disappointing first.
"I'm a little confused why I'm so slow on the first run," said Spring. "That's bobsled."
Earlier Friday, Germany's Tina Hermann continued her dominance of women's skeleton by winning a fourth World Cup gold of the season in 1:48.90.
Hermann also has a silver and a fourth-place finish to lead the overall standings through six races.
"It's really exciting. I'm very happy about it," said the 23-year-old. "My season has been really great. I didn't expect to be in such good form."
Anne O'Shea of the United States finished second in 1:49.09, while Germany's Jacqueline Loelling was third in 1:49.48.
Jane Channell of North Vancouver, B.C., was 0.97 seconds back of Hermann in fourth.
Hermann trailed O'Shea by 0.02 seconds for top spot at the race's midway point, but was even better the second time down the track to claim her first comeback victory of the season.
Channell was disappointed with her first attempt, but put things together late to finish just out of the medals.
"I know how to get down this track," said the 27-year-old. "It was just a matter of keeping my composure, staying relaxed and letting the sled fly.
"I'm happy with it. Training wasn't going well, but come race day I put it all to the side and gave it my all."
A former university sprinter, Channell moved to Whistler after the 2010 Olympics to take up skeleton and raced in a World Cup here for the first time.
"You never want to disappoint the home crowd. Ever," said Channell, who maintained third in the overall standings. "It would have been great to stand on the podium, but I can't be upset with a fourth place. I'll definitely have a smile on my face today."
Calgary's Elisabeth Vathje finished 10th, while Cassie Hawrysh of Brandon, Man., was 19th.
