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Lake Placid (RWH) Strong women in the bobsleigh won the US team four podium places in the first three races of the BMW IBSF World Cup 2015/2016,with at least one female duo from the USA in the top three in Altenberg, Winterberg and Königssee (all GER).And one of the bobsledders was on the podium every time.Olympic bronze medallist Jamie Greubel Poser took victory in Winterberg, and came third in both Altenberg and Königssee, in the former race tied with Austria’s Christina Hengster.The most successful nation to date in this discipline, the USA’s women bobsledders are now on their way to the first of two World Cups on home ground.The fourth of the eight rounds in the BMW IBSF World Cup 2015/2016 is being held on the ice track in the Olympic Sports Complex in Lake Placid, which lies in the North of the US state of New York, and hosted the Olympic Winter Games in 1932 and 1980.
Last year’s overall winner, Elana Meyers Taylor, also came second in the Sochi Olympics. Her first race of the new year will be in the Europe Cup in Innsbruck (AUT), the site of the forthcoming World Championships.The bobsledder, who came second behind Jamie Greubel Poser in Winterberg, decided not to compete in Königssee for health reasons, and currently plans to rejoin the BMW IBSF World Cup series in St Moritz.She is replaced in Lake Placid by World Cup debutantes Brittany Reinbolt and Nicole Vogt, who are currently second and third in the IBSF North American Cup.
Of the US men’s bobsleigh team, Nick Cunningham came close to the podium in the two-man event.The 30-year-old is at the helm of USA 1 this season, and missed a top three placing by just a tenth of a second at the BMW IBSF World Cup in Winterberg.Steven Holcomb, World Champion in the two-man in 2012 and third at the Sochi Olympics, is steadily improving his form, and was in the top ten for the first time this winter in Königssee, where he came seventh.
In contrast, both US four-man teams are still waiting for a top ten result this season.Their best result to date was a twelfth in Königssee for Steven Holcomb, who collected the World Championship title in the four-man in Lake Placid in 2012. The World Cup leader in both bobsleigh disciplines is currently Francesco Friedrich of Germany.The World Champion in the two-man has won not only all three races in the discipline to date this season, but also the four-man races in Altenberg and Winterberg.
Skeleton slider Matt Antoine of the USA, who collected bronze at the 2014 Olympics and was also placed third in the overall World Cup rankings in 2014, has only come tenth, ninth and fifteenth so far this season, and is currently fighting much slower push times.“I’m glad I tried something new,and you never know what works until you try it, but I didn’t expect the step backwards.It’s frustrating”, said Antoine in a report published by the US federation USABS.But Lake Placid holds at least some promise for Matt Antoine,as it was here that the 30-year-old celebrated his first and only World Cup victory to date in December 2013. Defending titleholder and World Champion Martins Dukurs currently leads the World Cup standings. The Latvian has not been beaten yet this winter, and celebrated his fortieth World Cup victory in Königssee. Olympic Champion Alexander Tretyakov and his World Cup teammates currently compete in IBSF Intercontinental Cup. Instead, Russia sends six other athletes to the North American World Cups, including Olympic fifth Olga Potylitsina and 2013 World Championships bronze medallist Sergei Chudinov.
In the women’s skeleton, US slider Anne O’Shea goes to her home World Cup in Lake Placid in overall tenth after placing eighth in Königssee, her best result in four years.The standings are led by Tina Hermann of Germany, who came second in the opening race and then notched up victories in the two races that followed. Another member of the German team is currently overall second: World Championship runner-up Jacqueline Lölling has made it onto the podium in all three of the races so far in her debut BMW IBSF World Cup season.Strong results have also been returned by opening winner Laura Deas of Great Britain, Latvia’s Lelde Priedulena, who came fourth just 0.04 seconds behind the top three, and Jane Channell of Canada and Switzerland’s Marina Gilardoni, who both made their first World Cup podium appearance this season.Kim Meylemans, Belgium’s first ever World Cup competitor in the women’s skeleton, has surprised the audience with three top-ten placings in this, her debut season.©RWH2015-2016
Keep up to date with bobsleigh and skeleton news on Facebook, Twitter & co.
Lake Placid (RWH) The latest news, detailed start lists, race results and a wealth of information about the BMW IBSF Bob + Skeleton World Cup are again available this season via a variety of social media channels.The International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation IBSF has its own site on Facebook, and all news is posted straight to the profile pages of the over 2,000 members of the IBSF Facebook group and also sent to Twitter followers (@IBSFsliding), of which there are over 2,500.
A live ticker for all World Cup races, as well as results lists showing all race times and overall times and the latest World Cup standings can also be found at ibsf.org.Many countries throughout the world are showing TV coverage of the BMW IBSF World Cup races,and in addition, ibsf.org and the IBSF YouTube channel www.youtube.com/user/bobskeletv are showing all races live with commentary by Martin Haven and John Morgan.The live stream is available in almost every country in the world©RWH2015-2016
On the sidelines
Jazmin Sawyers (GBR), who took silver in the women’s bobsleigh with driver Mica McNeill at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Innsbruck, was to be found at the ice track for the first time in a long while at the BMW IBSF World Cup in Winterberg.After her YOG silver medal, the 21-year-old returned to athletics, winning bronze in the long jump for Great Britain at the IAAF World Junior Championships in the summer of 2012, and silver at the 2013 European Athletics Junior Championships, the 2014 Commonwealth Games and the 2015 European Athletics U23 Championships.Sawyers was in Winterberg to support her boyfriend, Britain’s skeleton slider Ed Smith.“I’d like to be at the World Championships in Innsbruck, too”, she said.“But I don’t know yet whether it’ll work out or not, as the qualifying rounds for the athletics world championships are at the same time.”©RWH2015-2016
Natalie DeRatt (GBR) is a brakewoman on Britain’s women’s bobsleigh team for this season’s BMW IBSF World Cup.The 27-year-old athlete was born in Sheffield, England, but lived for many years in the USA.The former track and field athlete made her bobsleigh debut on the US World Cup team in the 2014/2015 season, coming in the top ten in all of her races with pilot Jazmine Fenlator.The duo’s best result was a second at the Lake Placid opener.Fenlater/DeRatt came sixth at the BMW IBSF World Championships 2015 in Winterberg.Now on the British team, Natalie DeRatt and her new pilot Mica McNeill came ninth in Königssee.©RWH2015-2016
Thomas and Korbinian Heibl (NOR) made their World Cup debut in the third round of the BMW IBSF racing series.The Königssee track can almost be considered home ground for the brothers, aged 24 and 25:their grandfather Georg Heibl was a successful bobsleigh driver for Germany in the 1970s, winning World Championship silver in the two-seater in 1974 and 1975.The highest result to date for pilot Thomas and push athlete Korbinian Heibl, who live in Norway with their parents, was a tenth place in the four-man bobsleigh at the 2013 and 2014 Junior World Championships and at the European Cup in St Moritz in January 2015.©RWH2015-2016
Lake Placid timetable
| Date/time Lake Placid |
Date/time CET |
Race |
||
| Friday, 8 January |
8.30 am 10.00 am |
Friday, 8 January |
2.30 pm 4.00 pm |
Skeleton women, Run 1 Skeleton women, Run 2 |
| Friday, 8 January |
12.00 pm 1.00 pm |
Friday, 8 January |
6.00 pm 7.00 pm |
Women’s Bob, Run 1 Two Man Bob, Run 1 |
| Friday, 8 January |
2.15 pm 3.15 pm |
Friday, 8 January |
8.15 pm 9.15 pm |
Women’s Bob, Run 2 Two Man Bob, Run 2 |
| Saturday, 9 January |
9.00 am 10.30 am |
Saturday, 9 January |
3.00 pm 4.30 pm |
Four Man Bob, Run 1 Four Man Bob, Run 2 |
| Saturday, 9 January |
2.00 pm 3.00 pm |
Saturday, 9 January |
8.00 pm 9.00 pm |
Skeleton men, Run 1 Skeleton men, Run 1 |
The last World Cup winners in Lake Placid in December 2014
| 1. |
2. |
3. |
||||
| Skeleton Women |
Lizzy YARNOLD |
GBR |
Elisabeth VATHJE |
CAN |
Janine FLOCK |
AUT |
| Skeleton Men |
Martins DUKURS |
LAT |
Tomass DUKURS |
LAT |
Matt ANTOINE |
USA |
| Bobsleigh Women |
Elana MEYERS TAYLOR Cherrelle GARRETT |
USA |
Jazmine FENLATOR Natalie DERATT |
USA |
Jamie GREUBEL POSER Lauren GIBBS |
USA |
| Bobsleigh Men |
Francesco FRIEDRICH Thorsten MARGIS |
GER |
Oskars MELBARDIS Daumants DREISKENS |
LAT |
Nick CUNNINGHAM Casey WICKLINE |
USA |
| Four-man bobsleigh |
Maximilian ARNDT Kevin KORONA Joshua BLUHM Ben HEBER |
GER |
Alexander KASJANOV Maxim MOKROUSOV Ilvir HUZIN Aleksei PUSHKAREV |
RUS |
Oskars MELBARDIS Daumants DREISKENS Arvis VILKASTE Janis STRENGA |
LAT |
Season champions and World Cup leaders in BMW IBSF World Cup Bob + Skeleton 2015/2016
