Second week featuring 2-woman bob, 4-man bob and para sport premiere
St. Moritz (RWH): The second week of racing at the 2023 BMW IBSF World Championships will kick off with a premiere in the history of the World Championships. For the very first time, athletes with disabilities will participate in the World Championship programme at the St. Moritz-Celerina Olympia Bobrun track. 18 athletes have qualified and are registered to compete. In IBSF para sport, male and female athletes compete against one another on equal ground. Athletes will also be battling it out for gold, silver and bronze in the 2-woman bobsleigh and 4-man bobsleigh. A total of 19 2-woman bobsleigh teams and 22 4-man bobsleigh teams from 14 countries are registered for World Championships.
In the 4-man bobsleigh, the history of the World Championships dates back to 1930, when the inaugural event was held in Montreux, Switzerland. The first World Championships for the 2-woman bobsleigh took place in Winterberg (GER) in 2000, two years prior to the discipline’s Olympic debut. The first para sport World Championships were held in 2016 (Park City, USA). ©RWH2023
Para sport has been on the IBSF programme since 2015
St. Moritz (RWH): The para sport World Cup has been on the IBSF programme since winter 2014/2015. The first World Cup winner, Corie Mapp of the UK, was crowned in Innsbruck (AUT) in January 2015. One year later, Lonnie Bissonnette of Canada became the first ever World Champion in Park City (USA). Both athletes are registered to compete at the 2023 BMW IBSF World Championships. In parabob, the start is unique: During the first few years of monobob, the athletes in the sled were pushed up to a certain point by an assistant and then completed the downhill route alone. However, an automatic push system has been used since several years providing each sled with the same level of thrust at the start. Another unique feature in IBSF para sport is that male and female athletes compete against one another. The first female World Cup race winner was Annija Krumina of Latvia, who won in Calgary (CAN) in November 2017. The female Norwegian athlete Guro Fronsdal won the first World Championship medal in para sport (bronze) in Lillehammer in 2018. Since 2017, one World Cup race per winter season has also counted as the European Championships. The first title went to Latvia’s Artus Klots. ©RWH2023
|
Parabob |
||
|
From the list of favourites |
||
|
Corie Mapp (GBR) |
He is one of the most experienced pilots and the winner of the first parabob race in Innsbruck in 2015. Since then, he has won eleven races and finished on the podium 27 times. His history at the World Championships to date include one silver in 2019 and one bronze in 2017. He has already won two World Cup races in St. Moritz. |
|
|
Artus Klots (LAT) |
He is the 2017 and 2023 European Champion, and the 2017 and 2018 World Champion. |
|
|
Jonas Frei (SUI) |
The local hero from the Swiss team is the 2021 and 2022 World Champion; he won his first World Championship title on his home track in St. Moritz. |
|
|
Lonnie Bissonnette (CAN) |
He is the 2016 and 2019 Para World Champion and has won 14 World Cup races. He last finished on the podium in 2021. He has finished on the podium at nine out of his 13 races in St. Moritz since 2015. |
|
|
Dark horses |
||
|
Guillermo Castillo (USA) |
He has won two out of four races in the 2022/2023 season and is currently leading the overall World Cup. |
|
|
Nikolai Johann (GER) |
He won European Championship silver in St. Moritz in 2019 and also finished third in the European Championships in 2022 and 2023. |
|
|
2-woman bobsleigh |
||
|
From the list of favourites |
||
|
Kaillie Humphries (USA) |
She is the most experienced female bobsleigh pilot in the field, the 2010 and 2014 Olympic Champion, and four-time World Champion – her wins include the 2013 title, which she won in St. Moritz when she was still competing for Canada. She has won 30 World Cup races. |
|
|
Laura Nolte (GER) |
She won Olympic gold at Beijing 2022, she is the 2023 European Champion and is currently second overall in the 2022/2023 BMW IBSF World Cup. |
|
|
Kim Kalicki (GER) |
She won the 2022 European Championships in St Moritz, won World Championship silver in 2020 and 2021 and is currently leading the 2022/2023 IBSF World Cup. |
|
|
Dark horses |
||
|
Melanie Hasler (SUI) |
Switzerland’s local hero was the runner-up in the European Championships and has finished on the podium twice in the 2022/2023 BMW IBSF World Cup season. In 2021, she finished third in the World Cup and Junior World Championships in St. Moritz. |
|
|
Lisa Buckwitz (GER) |
She won Olympic gold in 2018 as the brakewoman for Mariama Jamanka and became European Champion with Kim Kalicki in St. Moritz in 2022. She has been competing as a pilot on the World Cup team since the 2022/2023 winter season and secured her first victory in Altenberg (GER). |
|
|
4-man bobsleigh |
|
|
From the list of favourites |
|
|
Francesco Friedrich (GER) |
He is the two-time Olympic Champion and four-time World Champion and has won 25 World Cup races in the 4-man event. |
|
Brad Hall (GBR) |
In Altenberg, he became Britain’s first male bobsleigh pilot to win the European Championships. He has won three races in the 2022/2023 BMW IBSF World Cup season, finished on the podium at five out of the six races and is currently leading the overall standings. |
|
Johannes Lochner (GER) |
He won Olympic silver at Beijing 2022 and the 2017 World Championships – he won the 2023 World Championship gold in the 2-man bobsleigh in St. Moritz. |
|
Dark horses |
|
|
Markus Treichl (AUT) |
He is currently fifth overall in the 2022/2023 BMW IBSF World Cup and has finished in the top six at five out of the six races. |
|
Michael Vogt (SUI) |
Switzerland’s local hero and the World Championship bronze medallist in the 2-man bobsleigh celebrated his first podium finish in a BMW IBSF World Cup 4-man bobsleigh race in Altenberg (GER). |
On the sidelines
Kimberley Bos (NED) and Amedeo Bagnis (ITA) have added two new countries to the list of World Championship medal winners in skeleton. The Netherlands joined the list for the first time with a silver medal for Kimberley Bos. The 29-year-old is also the Netherlands’ first ever World Cup race winner, overall World Cup winner, European Champion and Olympic medal winner (bronze in Beijing 2022) in skeleton. Amedeo Bagnis also won silver in the men’s skeleton at the 2023 BMW IBSF World Championships in St. Moritz-Celerina – the first skeleton medal for Italy. ©RWH2023
Brad Hall (GBR) has already made sporting history in the 4-man bobsleigh this 2022/2023 season: Brad Hall and his crew of Arran Gulliver, Taylor Lawrence and Greg Cackett became the first British bobsleigh team in history to be crowned European Champions. At the BMW IBSF World Championships in St. Moritz-Celerina (SUI), Hall and Lawrence finished fifth in the 2-man bobsleigh, only just missing out on a medal – it would have been the first since the legendary British bobsleigh pairing of Anthony Nash/Robin Dixon won bronze in Cortina d’Ampezzo (ITA) in 1966. If Hall and his crew manage to win a medal in the 4-man World Championships, they would also go down in history: The last time a British 4-man bobsleigh pilot finished on the World Championship podium was 1939, when Frederick McEvoy finished in the top three – coincidentally also in Cortina. The British athlete won the World Championship title in 1937 and 1938. ©RWH2023
Emma Brumoen (NOR) is the youngest jury member of the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation IBSF. In 2020, the Norwegian competed at the Youth Olympic Winter Games (YOG) in St. Moritz in the monobob, she finished tenth. Due to injury, she gave up her active career at the end of 2021, but will remain with the IBSF and her sport as an expert: After her jury exam, Emma Brumoen, who celebrated her 18th birthday at the end of September 2022, is the youngest jury member of the international Olympic winter sports federation. At the Parasport World Cup and OMEGA Youth Series in Innsbruck (AUT) in January, she is now for the first time co-responsible for these race series. "Emma unfortunately had to give up her active sports career. However, I hope she can be a role model for other young athletes to stay involved in their sport in a different pathway," said IBSF Youth Coordinator Nicola Minichiello. ©RWH2023
Schedule for the second World Championship week
