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IBSF athletes battle it out in Lake Placid in the last BMW IBSF World Cup race of 2022
Lake Placid (RWH): Lake Placid in the USA will host the last BMW IBSF Bobsleigh and Skeleton World Cup race of 2022. The Mt. Van Hoevenberg Combination Bobsled, Skeleton & Luge Track will provide the backdrop as bobsleigh and skeleton athletes battle it out for podium places and points for the third time this 2022/2023 season.
Team GB is the most successful country in skeleton so far
The UK has been the most successful country in the skeleton so far this 2022/2023 World Cup season. The athletes from Team GB collected a total of five podium places over the first two weekends of racing. With one first-place finish and one third-place finish, Marcus Wyatt tops the overall standings in the men’s skeleton ahead of Lake Placid. His team mate Matt Weston slid to a bronze medal in Park City. In the women’s skeleton event, Brogan Crowley took a surprise silver medal in Whistler (CAN), achieving her first World Cup podium finish. Laura Deas, the Olympic bronze medallist from PyeongChang 2018, celebrated her first podium place since February 2019 with a third-place finish in Park City (USA).
Kaillie Humphries secures four podium finishes and the lead in the monobob
When it is time for the athletes to battle it out in the women’s bobsleigh World Cup events in Lake Placid, it is likely that fans at the track will get to celebrate some podium finishes for the hosts Team USA. The Olympic and World Champion Kaillie Humphries has finished on the podium in all races so far this season, most recently winning gold in the monobob in Park City. Humphries – who with three Olympic golds and four World Championship titles is the most successful female bobsleigh pilot of all time – is arriving in Lake Placid at the top of the standings in the monobob event and third place in the 2-woman bobsleigh. The two 2-woman bobsleigh World Cup races in the 2022/2023 season so far have been won by Kim Kalicki (GER), the reigning European Champion and World Championship silver medallist from 2020 and 2021.
A win in Lake Placid would be particularly special for Friedrich, Hall and the US squads
In the men’s bobsleigh events, the Olympic and World Champion Francesco Friedrich (GER) is on a “bucket list mission”. The bobsleigh pilot has won every title going in his discipline – several times over. There are only a few gaps left to fill for the most successful bobsleigh pilot in years, one of which was a World Cup win in Park City (USA). At the last stop on the World Cup tour, Friedrich was able to tick off this achievement not once but twice with a gold in both the 2-man and 4-man bobsleigh at the Utah Olympic Park. And in Lake Placid? Friedrich needs a win in the 4-man bobsleigh here if he is to tick another achievement off his list.
The pairing of Brad Hall/Taylor Lawrence had a historic win in their sights in Park City. After finishing fastest in the first heat, the Brits were on course to get the team’s first World Cup gold in the 2-man bobsleigh in 37 years. The gold eventually went to Francesco Friedrich but Lake Placid will see pilot Brad Hall have another shot at getting into the sporting history books as the first British winner in the 2-man bobsleigh since Nick Phipps won in Cortina (ITA) in 1985.
From the World Cup race’s host team, Geoff Gadbois and Frank Del Duca have a chance of becoming the first US squad in several years to win World Cup gold in a men’s event: The most recent US winner in the 2-man bobsleigh was Codie Bascue in Lake Placid in November 2017. US fans have waited even longer for a win in the 4-man bobsleigh – the last gold medal was won in Innsbruck (AUT) in January 2014 by Steven Holcomb, who passed away in 2017. ©RWH2022
Schedule for the BMW IBSF World Cup in Lake Placid
Subject to changes – Up-to-date times (local time at the track and the user’s local time) are listed on the IBSF website. ©RWH2022
On the sidelines
Codie Bascue (USA), the last US athlete to win a 2-man bobsleigh World Cup race ahead of the weekend of racing in Lake Placid, is not piloting a bobsleigh in the 2022/2023 season. In summer 2022, the 28-year-old announced that he would be retiring as an athlete. Born in 1994, Codie Bascue entered the world of sliding sports at the young age of eight via a youth programme in Lake Placid. In 2011, he competed in his first IBSF race at the age of 17, racing in the North American Cup. Bascue finished ninth in the 4-man bobsleigh at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics and competed in his final race as a bobsleigh pilot at the European Cup in Winterberg in January 2022. Codie Bascue did not qualify for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. ©RWH2022
Matt Antoine (USA), the 2014 Olympic bronze medallist in the men’s skeleton, will not be on the starting line as an athlete at the BMW IBSF World Cup race in Lake Placid but as the host team’s Skeleton Head Coach of Performance. During his career as an athlete, Antoine was Team USA’s most successful male skeleton athlete, winning bronze at the 2014 Winter Olympics and finishing eleventh in 2018. Antoine was also nominated for seven World Championship teams and won nine World Cup medals. ©RWH2022
Bobsleigh and skeleton athletes competed to be named the fastest starters at the IBSF World Push Championships in Lake Placid the weekend before the BMW IBSF World Cup. The gold medals were awarded to Yin Zheng of China (men’s skeleton), Lisa Buckwitz (GER, women’s monobob, 2-woman bobsleigh), Mystique Ro (USA, women’s skeleton) and Kristopher Horn (USA, 2-man and 4-man bobsleigh). ©RWH2022
For more detailed information including athlete profiles and results please visit ibsf.org. Photos for editorial use can be found at Flickr. ©RWH2022
