FIBT World Championships 2009

The FIBT World Championships 2009, officially known as the Bauhaus FIBT Bobsleigh & Skeleton World Championships, February 20 to March 1, 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.

2009 World Championships
LocationLake Placid, New York
DatesFebruary 20-March 1

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 October 6, 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]  Aleksandr Tretyakov (RUS)  Frank Rommel (GER)  Florian Grassl (GER)
Women's skeleton[10]  Marion Trott (GER)  Shelley Rudman (GBR)  Katie Uhlaender (USA)

Bobsleigh

Two-man

February 21–22, 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

February 28 – March 1, 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

February 20–21, 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 (Nicola 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

February 27–28, 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  Aleksandr Tretyakov (RUS) +0.51

Women

February 26–27, 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

February 22, 2009. The mixed team event – consisting of one run each of men's skeleton, women's skeleton, 2-man bobsleigh, and 2-women bobsleigh – debuted at the 2007 championships. Germany had the fastest times in the first and third runs to win its third straight mixed team championship.[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
RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Germany (GER)2226
2  Switzerland (SUI)2103
3 Great Britain (GBR)1203
4 United States (USA)1124
5 Latvia (LAT)0011
 Russia (RUS)0011
Totals (6 entries)66618

References
  1. School project at FIL World Luge Championships in Lake Placid. at the Fédération Internationale de Luge de Course (September 26, 2008, article accessed October 3, 2008.)
  2. 41st FIL World Championships in Lake Placid. at the Fédération Internationale de Luge de Course (October 6, 2008, article accessed October 17, 2008.)
  3. WSLP-FM official website. - accessed February 17, 2009.
  4. Universal Sports Bobsled website access. - accessed February 17, 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. Archived 2011-10-02 at the Wayback Machine - accessed February 22, 2009.
  12. "FIBT World Championships 2009 bobsleigh four-man results". Archived from the original on 2011-10-02. Retrieved 2009-03-01.
  13. 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. Archived 2011-10-02 at the Wayback Machine - accessed February 21, 2009.
  15. 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". Archived from the original on 2011-10-02. Retrieved 2009-02-28.
  17. Staehli Wins Third World Skeleton Championship at the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing
  18. "FIBT World Championships 2009 women's skeleton results". Archived from the original on 2011-10-02. Retrieved 2009-02-28.
  19. Trott Sets Track Record, Takes Women's Skeleton Lead at the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing
  20. 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 February 22, 2009.
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