Contact: Amanda Bird, USBSF Marketing & Communications Manager
(518) 354-2250, abird@usbsf.com
Team USA wins World Championship team event
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (Feb. 19, 2012)–Just hours after Steven Holcomb (Park City, Utah) captured the two-man bobsled World Championship title, he helped the U.S. earn the team competition crown to cap a successful weekend of medal performances.
“Two World Championship titles in one day is pretty great,” Holcomb said. “Competing in the team event is always fun, so it’s really awesome to be up here with my teammates.”
Athletes in women’s and men’s skeleton and women’s and men’s two-man bobsled take one run each for a four-run combined time in the team event. The nation with the lowest combined time is declared the winner. Matt Antoine (Prairie du Chien, Wisc.) and Katie Uhlaender (Breckenridge, Colo.) took the medal winning runs in the skeleton heats. World Championship bronze medalist Elana Meyers (Douglasville, Ga.) teamed with Emily Azevedo (Chico, Calif.) for the women’s bobsled run, while Holcomb partnered with Justin Olsen (San Antonio, Texas) to secure gold for the U.S. in the final heat.
“It’s not often that we get to slide with the skeleton athletes, so it’s fun to compete with your teammates,” Azevedo said. “It was great getting back in the sled today and sliding with Elana.”
The team was victorious by a huge margin of 0.73 seconds after posting a combined time of 3:44.98. Germany posted a total time of 3:45.71 to claim the silver medal, while team Canada was third with a four-run combined time of 3:46.28.
The second U.S. team of John Daly (Smithtown, N.Y.), Jazmine Fenlator (Wayne, N.J.), Ingrid Marcum (Elmhurst, Ill.), Annie O’Shea (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.), Nick Cunningham (Monterey, Calif.) and Dallas Robinson (Georgetown, Ky.) finished just 0.20 seconds from the medals in fourth position with a combined time of 3:46.48.
The International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation will provide World Championship highlights following each race for requesting SNTV subscribing broadcast organizations. The news feed will be released one hour following the last event of the day. Please contact Heather Le Pere at (914) 525-0285 or via email at hlepere@hotmail.com for satellite coordinates.
The action continues with the women’s skeleton competition at 9 am on Thursday. Tickets can be purchased at the gate or online at www.Whiteface.com. If you can’t attend the events in person, watch live streaming of all World Championship races on www.FIBT.com. You can also download the Digotel Live+ for iOS iPhone app to watch from your mobile device, or catch the action on Universal Sports.
For media inquiries, please contact Amanda Bird, USBSF Marketing & Communications Manager, at abird@usbsf.com, or at (518) 354-2250.
Results:
1. Antoine, Meyers/Azevedo, Uhlaender, Holcomb/Olsen (USA) 3:44.98 (54.78, 57.71, 56.29, 56.20); 2. Rommel, Kiriasis/Wiacker, Thees, Arndt/Deja (GER) 3:45.71 (54.76, 57.78, 56.58, 56.59); 3. Fairbairn, Humphries/Baadsvik, Hollingsworth, Kripps/Randall (CAN) 3:46.28 (55.25, 57.65, 56.57, 56.81); 4. Daly, Fenlator/Marcum, O’Shea, Cunningham/Robinson (USA) 3:46.48 (54.83, 58.30, 57.01, 56.34);
About the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation
The United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, based in Lake Placid, N.Y., is the national governing body for the sports of bobsled and skeleton in the United States. The USBSF would like to thank its sponsors, suppliers and contributors for their support: BMW of North America, Under Armour, United States National Guard, Kampgrounds of America, National Strength and Conditioning Association, Vivat!, Global Forwarding, KBC Helmets, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, EDAS/Ripxx, UberSense, Tesa Tape and Ferris Mfg. Corp. For more information, please visit the USBSF website at http://bobsled.teamusa.org.
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