Nov 05

Bobsled and Skeleton World Cup season opens in Lake Placid

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Contact: Amanda Bird, USBSF Marketing & Communications Director
(518) 354-2250, abird@usbsf.com

Bobsled and Skeleton World Cup season opens in Lake Placid

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (Nov. 5, 2012)- International bobsled and skeleton competition kicks off in Lake Placid, N.Y. from Nov. 8-10 with the first of nine World Cup events this season. The U.S. team concluded last season with five World Championship medals in Lake Placid, four of them gold. With one of the most dynamic rosters in history, the host nation is expected to once again dominate on their home course.    

The detailed schedule is as follows, with all times listed in EST:

Thursday, Nov. 8

9 a.m. – Women’s Skeleton Racing Heat #1

10:30 a.m. – Women’s Skeleton Racing Heat #2

1 p.m.– Men’s Skeleton Racing Heat #1

2:30 p.m. – Men’s Skeleton Racing Heat #2

Friday, Nov. 9

9 a.m. – Women’s Bobsled Racing Heat #1

10 a.m. – Men’s Skeleton Racing Heat #3

10:45 a.m. – Women’s Bobsled Racing Heat #2

1 p.m.– Two-Man Bobsled Racing Heat #1

2:15 p.m. – Women’s Skeleton racing Heat #3

3 p.m. Two-Man Bobsled Racing Heat #2

Saturday, Nov. 10

9 a.m. – Four-Man Bobsled Racing Heat #1

10:30 a.m. – Four-Man Bobsled racing Heat #2

The skeleton competitions will be held in a three-heat format.  Athletes will race in two heats on Thursday to qualify for a final run on Friday. 

Reigning women’s skeleton World Champion Katie Uhlaender (Breckenridge, Colo.) is eager to defend her title and is a gold medal favorite on her home track. After a successful series of team selection races, seasoned veteran Kimber Gabryszak (Park City, Utah) earned her spot beside Uhlaender as USA-2. 

After a summer recovering from knee surgery, Matt Antoine (Prairie du Chien, Wisc.) is hungry to get back on ice to continue the momentum from his medal performances last season.  Longtime friends and teammates John Daly (Smithtown, N.Y.) and Kyle Tress (Ewing, N.J.) will join Antoine on a quest to stake their claim on the podium.

Women’s bobsled USA-1 pilot Elana Meyers (Douglasville, Ga.) will team with Olympic gold medal sprinter Tianna Madison (Elyria, Ohio) in an attempt to better her 2012 World Championship bronze medal performance in the KOA sled. Jamie Greubel (Newtown, Pa.) and rookie standout Aja Evans (Chicago, Ill.) shattered the Lake Placid track start record in team selection races and will be a threatening duo this weekend in the USA-2 Susan G. Komen for the Cure sled.  Jazmine Fenlator (Wayne, N.J.) and Olympic hurdler Lolo Jones (Des Moines, Iowa) had strong results together in the first national seeding race and will pair together again in the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Foundation sled for the first World Cup race of the season.

While Madison, Evans and Jones are rookies to the sport of bobsled, they are all accomplished track and field athletes whose skills have quickly and smoothly transferred to the ice.  Evans helped push Greubel to a record breaking start time on only her third day in a sled, and the coaching staff is expecting all three women’s teams to post blistering push times this weekend.

Men’s bobsled USA-1 pilot Steven Holcomb (Park City, Utah) and his explosive push team of Steve Langton (Melrose, Mass.), Justin Olsen (San Antonio, Texas) and Curt Tomasevicz (Shelby, Neb.) hope to ride the BMW Night Train to yet another gold medal performance in Lake Placid.  Holcomb and Langton doubled the team’s historic feat by winning the first ever two-man title last season, and the duo will again pair together in the Under Armour sled for the World Cup season opener.

Soldier-athlete Nick Cunningham (Monterey, Calif.) has been assigned to pilot the National Guard two-man sled and the Widia four-man sled.  It’s undecided if Adam Clark (Owenton, Ky.) or rookie Andreas Drbal (Belmont, Calif.) will push Cunningham on Friday, but both athletes will compete in Saturday’s four-man contest.  Johnny Quinn (McKinney, Texas) and Chris Fogt (Alpine, Utah) are candidates for USA-2’s brakeman position in the four-man race. 

Cory Butner (Yucaipa, Calif.) and Chuck Berkeley (Walnut Creek, Calif.) will race together in the Autism Speaks USA-3 two-man sled. Laszlo Vandracsek (Phoenix, Ariz.) will join the pair in the Sliding2Sochi four-man sled, and the brakeman position will be decided during training between Quinn, Fogt or Nic Taylor (Hayward, Calif.).

The North American Cup tour also kicks off this week with races from Nov. 7-10 at the Utah Olympic Park in Park City, Utah.  For a detailed schedule of races, please click here.

Please contact Amanda Bird, USBSF Marketing & Communications Director, at abird@usbsf.com or 518-354-2250 with media inquiries.

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, Vivat!, Global Forwarding, KBC Helmets, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Autism Speaks, Park City Lodging, 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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