Skeleton and bobsleigh athletes on world stage

Media Release From The New Zealand Academy of Sport South Island
February 26, 2009

Skeleton and bobsleigh athletes on world stage

New Zealand skeleton and bobsleigh teams are preparing to compete against the world’s best at the FIBT World Championships in Lake Placid, USA this week.

Top New Zealand skeleton athlete Tionette Stoddard, currently ranked 16th in the world, has had an excellent build-up to the world event, and a top 10 finish is a distinct possibility against the very strong European and American line-up.

Tionette races on:
Thursday, February 26, 9am (US time) [Friday 3am NZ time]
Friday, February 27, 8.30am (US time) [Saturday 2.30am NZ time]

New Zealand men’s skeleton athletes Ian Roberts and Michael Coutts race against the world’s best on Friday and Saturday morning US time, and are both hoping for a finish inside the top 20. Other New Zealand representative Ben Sanford has withdrawn from racing for the rest of the season due to injury.

The four-man bobsleigh team of Willie Trew, Chris Donaldson, Sam Higgie and Tom Davie, lead by driver Alan Henderson, are hoping for a top 16 finish in their bobsleigh competition. This is the first world event for the athletes, who have only been involved in bobsleigh for a few months, and will provide them with top competition in their build-up for the Winter Olympics in 2010.

The four-men race on:
Saturday, February 28, 9am (US time) [Sunday, 3am NZ time]
Sunday, March 1, 9am (US time) [Monday, 3am NZ time}

Earlier in the competition, the two-man team of Willie Trew and Chris Donaldson, lead by Alan Henderson, broke the New Zealand record they’d set only three months ago, lowering the Push time to 5.29s and bringing their ranking up to a credible 20th in the process.

“The push starts were very tight, with most of the field within a few hundredths of one another, proving that Team NZ can compete with the top teams in the World,” fellow team member Sam Higgie said. “The result in both the push and the placing has given Team NZ a fair amount of confidence as they head into the Four Man event.”

Please link to the World Championship website for results and further information, http://www.fibt.com/

The races ondemand link is http://www.fibtcom/index.php?id=189

ENDS

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