Preview to Viessmann FIBT Bob & Skeleton World Cup in Königssee
Date/Time CET
Friday, 13 January, 9.00 am- Women’s skeleton
Friday, 13 January, 12.00 pm- Women’s bobsleigh
Saturday, 14 January, 9.00 am- Men’s skeleton
Saturday, 14 January, 12.00 pm- Men’s 2-man bobsleigh
Saturday, 14 January, 4.00 pm- Team competition
Sunday, 15 January, 1.30 pm-Men’s 4-man bobsleigh
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Second half of season opens at last season’s World Championship venue
Königssee
(RWH) Königssee has its place in the history of FIBT as the first
artificial ice track ever to be built in the world. This intricate
labyrinth has already hosted four FIBT World Championships: for
bobsleigh in 1979, skeleton in 1990, and in 2004 the first ever joint
bobsleigh and skeleton World Championships. The ice track entered a new
era after the lower third of the course had been redesigned, and the
Bauhaus FIBT Bob & Skeleton World Championships 2011 were a fitting
way of celebrating this. Technology and safety at this historic venue
were brought up to date at the same time, as was the track’s
attractiveness for both media and spectators. It will now be opening the
second half of the Viessmann FIBT Bob & Skeleton World Cup
2011/2012.
After the fourth of eight World Cup rounds, Martins
Dukurs of Latvia continues to head the overall men’s skeleton rankings
with the maximum possible score of 900 points, followed by brother
Tomass Dukurs with 788 points and Alexander Tretiakov of Russia with 786
points. In the women’s skeleton, World Championship bronze medallist
Mellisa Hollingsworth of Canada is in the lead with 729 points. Hot on
her heels is World Champion Marion Thees of Germany with 728 points
followed by opening winner Olga Potylitsina of Russia in third place
with 681 points.
World Champion Cathleen Martini of Germany heads
the overall women’s bobsleigh ranking in the Viessmann FIBT Bob &
Skeleton World Cup Tour 2011/2012. Ranked second last season, Martini
now has 844 points. She is followed by Germany’s Anja Schneiderheinze
with 819 points and Fabienne Meyer of Switzerland with 776 points. In
the men’s two-man event, Thomas Florschütz of Germany has strengthened
his lead and now has 885 points. Beat Hefti of Switzerland is second
with 835 points and Maximilian Arndt of Germany third with 762 points.
In the overall four-man bobsleigh rankings, Alexsandr Zubkov of Russia
is in the lead with 829 points after four of eight rounds in the
Viessmann FIBT Bob & Skeleton World Cup Tour 2011/2012. Thomas
Florschütz of Germany is close behind him with 825 points, followed by
fellow German Maximilian Arndt with 779 points.
Artificial track at Königssee hosts season’s second team competition
Königssee
(RWH) The second and last team competition in the Viessmann FIBT Bob
& Skeleton World Cup Tour 2011/2012 will be held on the Königssee
ice track. The national teams will be racing for the best overall time
at the close of the second competition day on Saturday, 14 January from 4
pm.
Each nation’s team is made up of a two-man bobsleigh, a
women’s bobsleigh and a male and female skeleton athlete. The four
individual times are added up for each nation, and the team with the
best time wins the competition. The Deutschland I team of Frank Rommel,
Anja Huber, Sandra Kiriasis/Stephanie Schneider and Maximilian Arndt/Jan
Speer won the first team competition held during the first World Cup
weekend in Igls, Austria, followed by their teammates Alexander Kröckel,
Marion Thees, Anja Schneiderheinze/Christin Senkel and Manuel
Machata/Michail Makarow in second in Deutschland II. Team Russia I, made
up of Alexander Tretiakov, Olga Potylitsina, Olga Fedorova/Yulia
Timofeeva and Alexander Kasjanov/Maxim Mokrousov came third. The
national teams will also be racing for gold in Lake Placid (USA) at the
end of the first World Championship week in February (Sunday, 19
February 2012, 1.30 pm local time/ 7.30 pm CET).
Two-man bobsleigh European Champion Florschütz with fibula stress fracture
Königssee
(RWH) Thomas Florschütz, European Champion in the two-man bobsleigh,
will not be competing in at least the next two races in the Viessmann
FIBT Bob & Skeleton World Cup Tour in Königssee and St. Moritz. A CT
scan performed on Monday by Christian Schneider, the team doctor
attached to the German Bobsleigh, Luge and Skeleton Federation (BSD),
has discovered that two-man Olympic silver medallist Florschütz suffered
a stress fracture of the fibula in the first run of the four-man
bobsleigh event this weekend.
Florschütz, who collected bronze in
the race despite his injury, is due to be operated on in Erfurt on
Tuesday. Christoph Langen, head coach of the German Bobsleigh, Luge and
Skeleton Federation (BSD), has not yet ruled out the participation of
Florschütz in the World Championships. “There are still six weeks to
go”, said Langen. “The foot will be operated on to stabilise the injury,
and we expect a quick recovery after that”. The World Championships are
being held in Lake Placid in the US state of New York from 17 to 26
February. Florschütz’ brakeman Kevin Kuske, who previously won four
Olympics pushing André Lange, is expected to compete in the remaining
World Cup races with a new driver.
Florschütz, who has celebrated
three World Cup victories in four races in the two-seater this season,
and one in the four-seater, had to take a break from the bobsleigh at
the beginning of last season after intervertebral disc surgery. But the
2010/2011 season ended happily with silver in the two-man bobsleigh
World Championships in Königssee.
Königssee timetable:
Königssee
(RWH) The ladies open the fifth round in the Viessmann FIBT Bob &
Skeleton World Cup Tour 2011/2012, with the skeleton athletes racing for
gold on the Königssee ice track at the beginning of the first
competition day (Friday, 13 January at 9 am). They are followed by the
two women's bobsleigh heats starting at midday. Three competitions will
be held on Saturday (14 January), starting with the men’s skeleton at 9
am. At midday the bobsleigh athletes will be fighting for World Cup
points in the two-man event, followed by the team competition at 4 pm.
The World Cup weekend on the ice track which has hosted four World
Championships closes with the four-man bobsleigh on Sunday, 15 January
at 1.30 pm.
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