FIBT World Championships 2009

Official logo for the FIBT World Championships 2009 that is also used for the FIL World Luge Championships 2009.

The FIBT World Championships 2009, officially known as the Bauhaus FIBT Bobsleigh & Skeleton World Championships, 20 February to 1 March 2009 at the bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track in Lake Placid, New York for the ninth time, doing so previously in 1949, 1961, 1969, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1997 (Skeleton), and 2003 (Men's bobsleigh). Lake Placid was chosen 25-11 over Igls, Austria.

Event preparations

Local schools were involved in a "Scholastic Sliding Challenge" (SSC) as part of the FIL World Luge Championships that was held in early February 2009.[1] This program was developed at the 2007 World Luge Championships in Igls, then carried over to last year's World Luge Championships in Oberhof, Germany.[1] 22 schools participated in the Lake Placid area that involved over 4000 students.[1] The track was iced down on 6 October 2008, the earliest it has ever been iced in preparation for both the FIBT and FIL championships.[2] Local media coverage was provided by WSLP-FM 93.3 in neighboring Saranac Lake.[3] Online coverage in the United States was provided by Universal Sports.[4]

World Cup champions prior to the championships

As of February 15, 2009, the top three final World Cup positions were as follows (Note: In Bobsleigh, only the driver is shown.):

Discipline Leader Second Third
Bobsleigh men's combined[5]  Russia - Alexandre Zoubkov   Switzerland - Beat Hefti  Germany - André Lange
Bobsleigh two-man[6]   Switzerland - Beat Hefti  Germany - Thomas Florschütz  Germany - André Lange
Bobsleigh four-man[7]  Russia - Alexandre Zoubkov  Latvia - Janis Minins  United States - Steven Holcomb
Bobsleigh two-woman[8]  Germany - Sandra Kiriasis  Germany - Cathleen Martini  United States - Shauna Rohbock
Men's skeleton[9]  Alexander Tretiakov (RUS)  Frank Rommel (GER)  Florian Grassl (GER)
Women's skeleton[10]  Marion Trott (GER)  Shelley Rudman (GBR)  Katie Uhlaender (USA)

Bobsleigh

Two man

21-22 February 2009 at 08:30 EST (13:30 UTC) for the last two runs. The eventual silver medalists from Germany had the fastest first run, but the Swiss duo of Rüegg and Grand had the fastest times for the remaining three runs. Three-time and defending champion André Lange of Germany finished fifth.[11]

Pos Team Time
Gold   Switzerland II (Ivo Rüegg, Cedric Grand) 3:42.20
Silver  Germany I (Thomas Florschütz, Marc Kühne) +0.22
Bronze  United States I (Steven Holcomb, Curtis Tomasevicz) +0.40

Four man

28 February - 1 March 2009. The United States had the fastest time in each of the four runs to win their first bobsleigh gold medal at the World championships since 1959.[12] This was Latvia's first ever medal at the championships while five-time and defending champion Lange of Germany would finish second.[13]

Pos Team Time
Gold  United States I (Steven Holcomb, Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler, Curtis Tomasevicz) 3:36.61
Silver  Germany II (André Lange, Alexander Rödiger, Kevin Kuske, Martin Putze) + 0.97
Bronze  Latvia I (Jānis Miņins, Daumants Dreiškens, Oskars Melbārdis, Intars Dambis) + 1.00

Two woman

20-21 February 2009. The Canadian duo of Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse led after the first run while Rohbock & Meyers led after the second run before the British team of Minichiello & Cooke had the fastest third and fourth runs. Three-time defending champion Sandra Kiriasis of Germany finished seventh.[14]

Pos Team Time
Gold  United Kingdom I (Nicole Minichiello, Gillian Cooke) 3:48.22
Silver  United States I (Shauna Rohbock, Elana Meyers) +0.38
Bronze  Germany II (Cathleen Martini, Janine Tischer) +0.62

Skeleton

Men

27-28 February 2009. The second run was cancelled after 20 skeleton racers had completed to irregular track conditions.[15] Pengilly came from 15th after the first run to earn the silver medal.[16] It was also Stähli's third gold medal which he earned on his 41st birthday.[17]

Pos Athlete Time
Gold  Gregor Stähli (SUI) 2.46.58
Silver  Adam Pengilly (GBR) +0.35
Bronze  Alexander Tretiakov (RUS) +0.51

Women

26-27 February 2009. Trott set the track record in the first run and had the fastest time in all three runs.[18][19] The final run was plagued with heavy rainfall and strong winds up to 50 mph (85 km/h).[20] It was Williams' first world championship medal.

Pos Athlete Time
Gold  Marion Trott (GER) 3:47.97
Silver  Amy Williams (GBR) +0.59
Bronze  Kerstin Szymkowiak (GER) +0.64

Mixed team

22 February 2009. Germany had the fastest times in the first and third runs to win their third straight team event.[21]

Pos Team Time
Gold  Germany (Frank Rommel, Sandra Kiriasis, Patricia Polifka, Marion Trott, Thomas Florschütz, & Andreas Barucha) 3:45.41
Silver   Switzerland (Gregor Stähli, Sabrina Hafner, Anne Dietrich, Maya Pedersen, Ivo Rüegg, & Cedric Grand) +0.24
Bronze  United States (Eric Bernotas, Shauna Rohbock, Valerie Fleming, Katie Uhlaender, Steven Holcomb, & Justin Olsen) +0.25

Medal table

 Rank  Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1  Germany 2 2 2 6
2   Switzerland 2 1 0 3
3  United Kingdom 1 2 0 3
4  United States 1 1 2 4
5  Latvia 0 0 1 1
 Russia 0 0 1 1

References

  1. 1 2 3 [http://www.fil-luge.org/News-Detail.155.0.html?&tx_ttnews[pS]=1220220000&tx_ttnews[pL]=2591999&tx_ttnews[arc]=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=3373&tx_ttnews[backPid]=157&cHash=c18401120f School project at FIL World Luge Championships in Lake Placid.] at the Fédération Internationale de Luge de Course (26 September 2008 article accessed 3 October 2008.)
  2. ↑ [http://www.fil-luge.org/News-Detail.155.0.html?&tx_ttnews[pS]=1222812000&tx_ttnews[pL]=2681999&tx_ttnews[arc]=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=3405&tx_ttnews[backPid]=157&cHash=32e8941ae7 41st FIL World Championships in Lake Placid.] at the Fédération Internationale de Luge de Course (6 October 2008 article accessed 17 October 2008.)
  3. ↑ WSLP-FM official website. - accessed February 17, 2009.
  4. ↑ Universal Sports Bobsled website access. - accessed 17 February 2009.
  5. ↑ FIBT 2008-09 men's bobsleigh World Cup final results.
  6. ↑ FIBT 2008-09 two-man bobsleigh World Cup final results.
  7. ↑ FIBT 2008-09 four-man bobsleigh World Cup final results.
  8. ↑ FIBT 2008-09 two-woman bobsleigh World Cup final results.
  9. ↑ FIBT 2008-09 men's skeleton World Cup final results.
  10. ↑ FIBT 2008-09 women's skeleton World Cup final results.
  11. ↑ FIBT World Championships 2009 bobsleigh two-man results. - accessed February 22, 2009.
  12. ↑ FIBT World Championships 2009 bobsleigh four-man results.
  13. ↑ [http://www.fibt.com/index.php?id=88&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=549&tx_ttnews[backPid]=2&cHash=56ba12cf15 Holcomb Wins 4-Man in Lake Placid, Ends USA Drought] at the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing
  14. ↑ FIBT World Championships 2009 bobsleigh two-woman results. - accessed 21 February 2009.
  15. ↑ [http://www.fibt.com/index.php?id=88&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=540&tx_ttnews[backPid]=2&cHash=ea9525a701 Staehli First Day Leader in Men's World Skeleton] at the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing
  16. ↑ FIBT World Championships 2009 men's skeleton results.
  17. ↑ [http://www.fibt.com/index.php?id=88&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=546&tx_ttnews[backPid]=2&cHash=9173cf1018 Staehli Wins Third World Skeleton Championship] at the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing
  18. ↑ FIBT World Championships 2009 women's skeleton results.
  19. ↑ [http://www.fibt.com/index.php?id=88&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=536&tx_ttnews[backPid]=2&cHash=2195adfe5b Trott Sets Track Record, Takes Women's Skeleton Lead] at the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing
  20. ↑ [http://www.fibt.com/index.php?id=88&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=538&tx_ttnews[backPid]=2&cHash=0a245e6be0 Trott Takes Bauhaus FIBT Women's Skeleton Championship] at the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing
  21. ↑ FIBT World Championships 2009 mixed team results. - accessed 22 February 2009.
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