Summer bobsleigh in Huckeswagen held under auspices of FIBT for first time

Athletes from ten nations in line-up

Hückeswagen (RWH) The summer bobsleigh event in Hückeswagen (GER) is being held under the auspices of the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation FIBT for the first time this year. Some of the best national and international bobsleigh athletes will be fighting it out in the small town in the Bergisches Land from 22 to 24 August, the fourth time that Hückeswagen is host to the pre-season competition. Athletes from ten nations (AUT, BEL, CAN, GBR, GER, LAT, NED, RUS, SUI, USA) will be competing in the event, including two Olympic champions: Steven Holcomb of the USA, who took gold in the four-man bobsleigh at Vancouver 2010 and bronze in both the two-man and the four-man event in Sochi this year, and Anja Schneiderheinze from the German host team. Now to be found at the helm of a bobsleigh, Schneiderheinze won her Olympic gold medal pushing pilot Sandra Kiriasis at Turin 2006.Home fans can also look forward to the performance of Cathleen Martini, 2011 World Champion and four-times European champion (2004, 2005, 2010, 2012), and Matthias Böhmer, silver medallist in the four-man bobsleigh at the Junior World Championships.

Team AUT: Christina Hengster (2012 Junior World Champion)

Team BEL: Elfje Willemsen (placed sixth at the Sochi 2014 Olympics)

Team CAN: Justin Kripps (overall ninth in the 2014 four-man bobsleigh World Cup)

Team GBR: John James Jackson (fifth in the 2013 World Championships in the four-man bobsleigh)

Team GER: Matthias Böhmer (silver in the four-man bobsleigh in the 2014 Junior World Championships), Cathleen Martini (2011 World Champion, 2004, 2005, 2010, 2012 European Champion, overall World Cup winner in 2012), Anja Schneiderheinze (2006 Olympic Champion with pilot Sandra Kiriasis, silver in the 2011 European Championships, overall second in the 2012 World Cup)

Team LAT: Oskars Kibermanis (silver in the four-man bobsleigh in the 2012 Junior World Championships)

Team NED: Esme Kamphuis (placed fourth at the Sochi 2014 Olympics, bronze in the 2011 European Championships)

Team RUS: Alexander Kasjanov (placed fourth in the two-man and four-man events at the Sochi 2014 Olympics)

Team SUI: Beat Hefti (silver at the 2014 Olympics, silver in the 2013 World Championships, European Champion in

2010, 2013 and 2014, overall World Cup winner in 2012)

Team USA: Steven Holcomb (four-man bobsleigh: gold at the 2010 Olympics and bronze at Sochi 2014, world champion in 2009 and 2012, two-man bobsleigh: 2012 World Champion), Elana Meyers-Taylor (silver at the 2014 Olympics, silver in the 2013 World Championships, overall third in the 2014 World Cup)

Wood and tarmac for concrete and ice: old town streets transformed into bobsleigh track

Hückeswagen (RWH) The specially built track for bobsleighs on wheels will run right through the historic part of Hückeswagen over a length of 525 metres and through some very steep streets. Special tarmac will be laid between the walls, and a layer of fleece will ensure that the track can be disassembled easily once the winter weekend is over. Space has been left at both sides of the track to enable the spectators – as many as 5,000 are expected – to watch the runs from close quarters, and the pit lane will also be open to all.

Opening press conference on Thursday

Hückeswagen (RWH) A press conference will be held at 11.00 am on Thursday, 21 August 2014 in the Pflitsch Alm (Etapler Platz, 42477 Hückeswagen) to launch the summer bobsleigh in Hückeswagen. Team USA’s Steven Holcomb(2010 Olympic Champion and two-times world champion in the four-man bobsleigh) and Elana Meyers-Taylor (Sochi 2014 silver medallist) will be available for questions at the press conference, as will Canada’s bobsledders Justin Kripps and Ben Cloakwell. Germany will be represented by Rene Spies, a member of the coaching staff for the national bobsleigh team. After the press conference, there will be an opportunity to see the finishing touches beingput to the track. Media representatives can also approach the organising team for more information. Its office is well signposted at the venue. And it’s worth noting that anyone can enter the track and the pit lane: accreditation is not required.

On the sidelines

Elana Meyers-Taylor (USA), Olympic silver medallist at Sochi, had more than one reason to celebrate after the Bauhaus FIBT World Championships 2013. Meyers returned her best ever result in a world championship race when she won silver with Katie Eberling in St Moritz. And then during the award ceremony her partner Nicolas Taylor went down on one knee before the podium and, to the delight of spectators and athletes alike, asked her to marry him. "Silver medal and an engagement?!? Awesome day", the athlete twittered later that day. The wedding took place in the summer of 2014. The couple had previously shown they make a great team, jumping spontaneously into a sled and competing against Steven Holcomb and Katie Eberling in Lake Placid in the winter of 2011/2012. The result was a tie, they report in a video which can be viewed on teamusa.org. (RWH)

John James Jackson (GBR) notched up a spectacular success for the British bobsleigh team at the Viessmann FIBT World Cup in Lake Placid (USA) in December 2013. Jackson and his team of Stuart Benson, Bruce Tasker and Joel Fearon was beaten in the four-seater only by the US team headed by Steven Holcomb. That second place gave the British men’s bobsleigh team their first podium appearance in 16 years, the last time being in December 1997, when Sean Olsson came third in La Plagne behind the German teams of Harald Czudaj and Christoph Langen. (RWH)

Justin Kripps (CAN) can be sure of divine assistance in the Viessmann FIBT World Cup, as he named his sleighs after the Hawaiian goddesses of fire, Pele (two-man sleigh), and ice, Poliahu (four-man sleigh), in his first World Cup season in 2012/2013. Both deities should be well-disposed towards the former track and field athlete, as the 27-year-old was born in the USA’s southernmost town Naalehu on the south-east coast of the island of Hawaii. (RWH)

Download this PDFto read more from the FIBT and the IBSF, and to view the agenda for the 2014 summer bobsleigh in Hückeswagen.

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