BOBSLEIGH/ LUGE/ SKELETON: Feeling the need for speed Australian sliders have produced a weekend of stellar results, with the men’s Bobsleigh, Luge and Skeleton athletes all producing top 12 performances. 

 

BOBSLEIGH: At the home of the 1932 and 1980 Olympic Games in Lake Placid, pilot Heath Spence steered his 4-man team of Gareth Nichols, Duncan Harvey and Lucas Mata to a podium finish at the North American Cup. 

The crew finished in second place in a time of 56.47 seconds, just 0.02 seconds behind the race winners of Japan. 

“We have a great team!” 33-year-old Spence said after the race.

“With every run we take we learn to work better and keep thriving to improve. The boys pushed well on the conditions and I had a good drive, the symbols of a great team.

“I believe this result shows our potential and all the hard work of the people that have been involved towards this four year build up, especially at this part of the season heading into the Games.” 

The previous day, on Saturday 11 January, the same 4-man team just missed the podium, finishing fourth.

“Yesterday the team was frustrated being 4th because we had a technical issue with the side push bars and didn't perform to our potential.

“Having the fastest run of the day on the 2nd heat we knew we could be better and today we proved that.”

Spence and brakeman Harvey also delivered some excellent results in the 2-man event, again just missing the podium. 

“I believe we had good results finishing fourth and sixth, considering we are up against other teams with much larger programs and support,” Spence said. 

On their first day of racing, the men finished in fourth place with a total time of 1:52.47, just 1.06 seconds behind the race leaders from Korea. The same Korean team won day two of racing, in a total time of 1:51.71 seconds, 1.23 seconds ahead of Spence and Harvey.

“We will continue to work on the small things in order to find those extra 10ths of a second to improve our results,”  Spence said. 

In St Moritz, Switzerland for the 6th FIBT World Cup, dual Olympians Astrid Radjenovic and Jana Pittman finished 12th in the women’s 2-man bobsleigh event, tying with Elana Meyers and Aja Evans of the USA in a total time of 2:18.03 seconds. The women were just 1.07 seconds behind race winners Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse of Canada. 

 

SKELETON: Also in St Moritz for the World Cup were the Australian skeleton athletes John Farrow, Michelle Steele and Lucy Chaffer. 

In the men’s event, Farrow produced his best result yet on the World Cup circuit finishing in 12th place. The 31-year-old finished in a time of 2:18.21, which was 2.67 seconds behind Martins Dukurs of Latvia. 

Farrow is now 37th on the FIBT ranking list and has improved his qualification chances for the Olympic Games.

“Feels great to bring it on race day,” Farrow said on Twitter. 

“So much positive support from the team and aussies back home really helps. The real job is in a month and hopefully this is a kickstarter to some aussie medals in sochi!”

Chaffer and Steele finished 16th and 17th respectively in the women’s event, which was won by Noelle Pikus-Pace of the United States in a time of 2:19.88. The girl’s results solidified their chances of Olympic qualification. 

The skeleton squad and women’s bobsleigh team are now in Igls, Austria and are soon to be joined by the men’s bobsleigh team who are travelling from Lake Placid for the penultimate FIBT World Cup prior to the Sochi Olympic Games.

 

LUGE: In Luge, 18-year-old Alex Ferlazzo finished ninth at the Junior World Cup in Sigulda, Latvia. It was the first of two events in which Ferlazzo must compete to fulfil the Olympic qualification requirements and finalise his spot on the Team.

Ferlazzo was in Latvia with fellow Luge competitor 18-year-old Ashley Cooney, who finished in 22nd place in the Women Junior World Cup. Cooney is relying on the slim chance of the re-allocation of quota places, which will occur from 20 – 24 January 2014, for her chance to compete in Sochi.