Zurich (RWH) Swiss bobsleigh pilot Martina Fontanive, 2023 European Championship fifth in the 2-woman bobsleigh, has announced the end of her active sports career.
" I put all my energy into bobsleigh. Now is the right time for a new phase of my life", the 36-year-old wrote on Instagram and Facebook, thanking sponsors, coaches and companions. "Looking back over the past 10 years, I am incredibly proud of my development and what I have achieved. In August 2012, at a long jump event, I was asked if I would like to be a bobsleigh brakewoman. The next day I agreed and committed for the whole season. Driving down the bobsleigh track as a pusher and as a pilot, as well as all the work before and after a bobsleigh ride: this feeling was exactly the same as I had imagined. All this, plus the athletic training, the people, the challenges - it was easy for me to love bobsleigh."
Martina Fontanive's first race was in November 2012 at a Europe Cup in Innsbruck - at that time as Eveline Gerber's push athlete. As a pilot, she competed in almost 40 2-woman Bobsleigh World Cup races between 2015 and 2023, in February 2020 she narrowly missed the podium, finishing fourth on her home track in St. Moritz. In 2020 and most recently in 2023, she finished seventh at the World Championships. In the Women's Monobob World Series, the Swiss celebrated a double victory in 2021 tied with team mate Melanie Hasler. @RWH2023
Photos: IBSF / Viesturs Lacis, Swiss Sliding
