World Championship racing resumes tomorrow in St. Moritz
ST. MORITZ, Switzerland (Jan. 30, 2013)-The U.S. team collected two medals to celebrate the first weekend of 2013 World Championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Women's bobsledders Elana Meyers and Katie Eberling set the pace for the event by earning silver, and competitors in bobsled and skeleton combined forces to win the 2013 World Championship title in the team event. The U.S. has high hopes of securing additional medals in the upcoming skeleton and four-man bobsled races.
The detailed schedule is as follows, with all times listed in local time and ET in parentheses:
Thursday, Jan. 31
9 a.m. (3 a.m.)-Women's skeleton race heat #1
10:45 a.m. (4:45 a.m.) -Women's skeleton race heat #2
Friday, Feb. 1
9 a.m. (3 a.m.) - Women's skeleton race heat #3
10:45 p.m. (4:45 a.m.) - Women's skeleton race heat #4
1 p.m. (7 a.m.) -Men's skeleton race heat #1
2:45 p.m. (8:45 a.m.) -Men's skeleton race heat #2
Saturday, Feb. 2
8:45 a.m. (2:45 a.m.)- Men's four-man bobsled heat #1
10:45 a.m. (4:30 a.m.)- Men's four-man bobsled race heat #2
1:15 p.m. (7:15 a.m.)- Men's skeleton race heat #3
3 p.m. (9 a.m.)- Men's skeleton race heat #4
Sunday, Feb. 3
10 a.m. (4 a.m.)- Men's four-man bobsled race heat #3
11:45 a.m. (5:45 a.m.)-Men's four-man bobsled race heat #4
Noelle Pikus-Pace (Orem, Utah) dominated the women's skeleton heat in the team event to catapult the squad into the lead. Pikus-Pace's time was 0.84 seconds faster than any other women's skeleton competitor in the event, which bodes well for the American in this upcoming weekend's race for the title. Pikus-Pace was the first U.S. women's skeleton athlete to ever claim the World Championship title six years ago, and she did so by the largest margin in women's skeleton history. Her record-breaking runs were on the natural made St. Moritz track in 2007, and Pikus-Pace hopes to make history again as the first U.S. women's skeleton racer to earn two World Championship titles.
Katie Uhlaender (Breckenridge, Colo.) will challenge her teammate for the historic rights as the first American woman to earn two World Championship titles. Uhlaender has two World Cup titles and has competed in two Olympics, but had yet to win a World Championship title until last year. She raced a gold medal performance in Lake Placid, N.Y., and is a favorite heading into this weekend as the defending champion. Uhlaender joined Pikus-Pace on the podium in 2007 as the bronze medalist, and has historically done well on the St. Moritz course. If Uhlaender wins, she'll be the most decorated women's skeleton athlete in World Championship history.
Men's skeleton competitor Matt Antoine (Prairie du Chien, Wisc.) earned his second career World Cup medal, bronze, in St. Moritz last season. Antoine's smooth sliding style is suitable for the long natural made course. John Daly (Smithtown, N.Y.) finished fifth in St. Moritz last season, which was his career best World Cup result prior to his fourth place finish in Lake Placid last November. Latvian Martins Dukurs will be tough for anyone to beat and is the gold medal favorite. The three-time World Cup champion will be aiming to win his third consecutive World Championship title. The only competitor that may be able to threaten Dukurs for the win is Frank Rommel from Germany, who was triumphant over Dukurs already once this season in Whistler, Canada.
Defending World Champion Steven Holcomb (Park City, Utah) will once again team with his USA-1 powerhouse push crew of Steve Langton (Melrose, Mass.), Justin Olsen (San Antonio, Texas) and Curt Tomasevicz (Shelby, Neb.). The crew started the season off strong with two silver medal performances, and is optimistic about finishing the season on top with World Championship gold.
Nick Cunningham (Monterey, Calif.) kicked off his first ever World Cup season at the helm with a bronze medal performance in Lake Placid, and he hopes to be back on the podium alongside his USA-2 push team of Andreas Drbal (Belmont, Calif.), Adam Clark (Owenton, Ky.) and Chris Fogt (Alpine, Utah).
Codie Bascue (Whitehall, N.Y.) earned his position as pilot of USA-3 after earning 13 medals on the North American tour, eight of them gold. Jesse Beckom (Chicago, Ill.), Johnny Quinn (McKinney, Texas) and Nic Taylor (Hayward, Calif.) will join Bascue in his first career World Championship appearance.
The Americans will be up against tough competition for the four-man title. German pilot Maximilian Arndt was runner-up last season and his teammate Thomas Florschuetz will be eager to claim his first title after securing several silver medals in his career. Alexander Zubkov from Russia claimed five World Cup victories this season and is the top favorite for gold, while Beat Hefti is expected to post big numbers on his home track.
Universal Sports will be broadcasting the events same day delay with several re-airs for each competition to make sure you don't miss the action. The schedule is as follows, with all times listed in ET.
Friday, Feb. 1
1-2 p.m. -Women's skeleton
6-7 p.m. -Women's skeleton (re-air)
9-10 p.m.-Women's skeleton (re-air)
Saturday, Feb. 2
12-1 a.m. -Women's skeleton (re-air)
9-10 a.m. -Women's skeleton (re-air)
1-2 pm. -Men's skeleton
10:30-11:30 p.m. -Men's skeleton (re-air)
Sunday, Feb. 3
4-5 a.m. -Men's skeleton (re-air)
9-10 a.m. -Men's skeleton (re-air)
1-2 p.m. -Men's four-man bobsled
9-10 p.m. -Men's four-man bobsled (re-air)
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