Park City (RWH) The top athletes in the sport of bobsleigh and skeleton will be meeting in Park City (USA) for the first time in over two years next weekend, 15–16 January:the last time a World Cup was held here was in December 2013. And now the athletes belonging to the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation IBSF are back in the town with its population of 7,500 for the fifth round in the BMW IBSF World Cup Bob & Skeleton 2015/2016 on the 2002 Olympic track.
The old mining town of Park City has been home to gold and silver for over 150 years,but while arduous underground mining was necessary when the town was established back in 1860, the athletes will find it much easier to find precious metal this weekend.A ride down the 1,570-metre long track in Utah Olympic Park lasts around 47 to 50 seconds, depending on the discipline, and so gold, silver or bronze will already be waiting for the best athletes after a good one-and-a-half minutes.
The four-man bobsledders have particularly good medals prospects at the BMW IBSF World Cup in Park City,as the big sleighs will be competing twice here.Maximilian Arndt of Germany, who won the 2013 and 2015 World Championships, travels to Park City as the leader in the overall standings after taking his first victory of the season in Lake Placid (USA) last weekend.In the same race, the US crews piloted by 2010 Olympic Champion and 2009 and 2012 World Champion Steven Holcomb and by Nick Cunningham made it into the top ten for the first time this winter at eighth and ninth respectively.
Park City is of particular historical importance for the female bobsledders and skeleton sliders,as it was on this ice track that they entered the Olympic stage for the first time during the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.Fittingly, both gold medals were won by the US hosts,with Jill Bakken/Vonetta Flowers in the women’s bobsleigh and Tristan Gale in the women’s skeleton going down in history as the first ever Olympic Champions in their disciplines.
The US women’s bobsleigh team is also heading to Park City as the favourites in the BMW IBSF World Cup 2015/2016.World Champion and defending World Cup titleholder Elana Meyers Taylor took a break from the World Cups in Königssee (GER) and Lake Placid (USA) to treat the effects of a concussion, and will be racing in the European Cup on the track hosting the forthcoming World Championships in Innsbruck (AUT) this weekend.Fellow American Jamie Greubel Poser, who came third at the Sochi Olympics, has been on the podium in all eight World Cup races since St Moritz at the end of January 2015, and will be competing in her second home World Cup this winter from the position of second in the overall rankings.But things also look good for Kaillie Humphries of Canada.The 2010 and 2014 Olympic Champion is at the top of the standings after the first half of the BMW IBSF World Cup series thanks to victory in Altenberg and Königssee, a third in Winterberg and a second in Lake Placid.
In the women’s skeleton, Anne O’Shea celebrated her first World Cup victory in front of a home crowd in Lake Placid, but doesn’t see herself as the favourite for Park City despite another home advantage.“Would I love to win gold? Yes.Can I set those expectations? No. Because they tend to backfire.So I need to do my best and just focus on that”, she said in when interviewed after the race.
The men’s skeleton celebrated its return to the Olympics in Park City in 2002, after showcasing in 1928 and 1948.The discipline’s third Olympic appearance saw gold for Jim Shea from the host country.In the BMW IBSF World Cup 2015/2016, Sochi Olympic bronze medallist Matt Antoine of the USA has been struggling with his push times since the Königssee race, but came fifth to achieve his best result of the season on home ice in Lake Placid.Defending titleholder and World Champion Martins Dukurs of Latvia remains unbeaten this winter, with four victories in four races.©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 maintains its own site on Facebook, and all news is posted straight to the profile pages of the over 2,100 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 after every race 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/bobskeletvare presenting 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
Park City timetable
| Date/Time Park City |
Date/time CET |
Race |
||
| Friday, 15 January |
11.00 am 12.30 pm |
Friday, 15. January |
7.00 pm 8.30 pm |
Bobsleigh women, Run 1 Bobsleigh women, Run 2 |
| Friday, 15 January |
6.00 pm 7.30 pm |
Saturday, 16 January |
2.00 am 3.30 am |
Four-man bobsleigh: race 1, heat 1 Four-man bobsleigh: race 1, heat 2 |
| Saturday, 16 January |
11.00 am 12.00 pm |
Saturday, 16 January |
7.00 pm 8.00 pm |
Skeleton women, Run 1 Skeleton men, Run 1 |
| Saturday, 16 January |
1.15 pm 2.15 pm |
Saturday, 16 January |
9.15 pm 10.15 pm |
Skeleton women, Run 2 Skeleton men, Run 2 |
| Saturday, 16 January |
5.00 pm 6.30 pm |
Sunday, 17 January |
1.00 am 2.30 am |
Four-man bobsleigh: race 2, heat 1 Four-man bobsleigh: race 2, heat 2 |
The last World Cup winners in Park City in December 2013
| 1. |
2. |
3. |
||||
| Skeleton Women |
Noelle PIKUS-PACE |
USA |
Lizzy YARNOLD |
GBR |
Sarah REID |
CAN |
| Skeleton Men |
Alexander TRETYAKOV |
RUS |
Martins DUKURS |
LAT |
Matthew ANTOINE |
USA |
| Bobsleigh Women |
Elana MEYERS Aja EVANS |
USA |
Kaillie HUMPHRIES Heather MOYSE |
CAN |
Jamie GREUBEL Katie EBERLING |
USA |
| Elana MEYERS Aja EVANS |
USA |
Jamie GREUBEL Lolo JONES Jazmine FENLATOR Lauryn WILLIAMS |
USA USA |
- |
- |
|
| Bobsleigh Men |
Steven HOLCOMB Christopher FOGT |
USA |
Nick CUNNINGHAM Dallas ROBINSON |
USA |
Francesco FRIEDRICH Jannis BÄCKER |
GER |
| Four-man bobsleigh |
Steven HOLCOMB Curtis TOMASEVICZ Steven LANGTON Christopher FOGT |
USA |
Maximilian ARNDT Marko HÜBENBECKER Alexander RÖDIGER Martin PUTZE |
GER |
Alexander KASJANOV Philipp EGOROV Maxim BELUGIN Alexei PUSHKAREV |
RUS |
On the sidelines
Kaillie Humphries (CAN) wrote another page of bobsleigh history in Lake Placid (USA).Pushed by Cynthia Appiah, Genevieve Thibault and Melissa Lotholz, the 2010 and 2014 Olympic Champion and 2012 and 2013 World Champion in the women’s bobsleigh piloted the first ever all-women crew against male competitors in a four-man World Cup event.The result – 17th of 17 sleds – was completely irrelevant for the 30-year-old.“The whole point of me competing with the guys in the first place was to show that girls can do four-man”, said Humphries, who heads the overall standings in the women’s bobsleigh, in a report on cbc.ca.“We’re just kind of taking it one step further and having a full women’s crew now.We’ve always wanted to have our own four-women event. Hopefully in doing this for the second half, the world will see, the other girls will see that we can do this.” ©RWH2015-2016
Anastasia Shlapak (RUS) is competing in two IBSF disciplines.At the BMW IBSF World Cup in Lake Placid, she debuted in the skeleton and came eighteenth.She was previously to be seen this season at the IBSF European Cup in Sigulda (LAT), both at the helm of a bobsleigh and on a skeleton.The 20-year-old athlete won two fifth places in the women’s bobsleigh and came eighth and second in the women’s skeleton. ©RWH2015-2016
Oskars Melbardis (LAT) was absent from the fourth round in the BMW IBSF World Cup in Lake Placid.The Latvian federation announced on bobslejs.lv that the bobsledder, who came second at the 2015 World and European Championships in the two-man event and won four-man silver at the Olympics, was suffering from severe back problems from an old slipped disc injury.“Of course this means the fight to defend the overall World Cup title is over”, said head coach Sandis Prusis.“But we need to think of the future, including the World Championships.” It is hoped that the Latvian teams will be back to full strength for the Park City World Cup.“We really want all three teams to stay in the best 25 in the IBSF standings”, continued Prusis, who won the 2003 European Championships in the four-man bobsleigh and competed in four Olympics.“Only then will we be able to enter three teams in next season’s World Cup.”©RWH2015-2016
Season champions and World Cup leaders in BMW IBSF World Cup Bob + Skeleton 2015/2016
