The German skeleton team ended the last Olympic Winter Games with a double gold coup. Now the new season starts on the Olympic track this weekend – and once again the German team is heading into the winter with a big goal.
Gold for Hannah Neise as well as gold for Christopher Grotheer and silver for Axel Jungk: The German skeleton pilots returned from the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing 2022 with this dream result. One Olympics later, the main characters in the German team are the same and the ambitions have hardly changed. Of course, the whole thing won’t be a sure-fire success; after all, you have to develop a completely new path.
Because the Olympic track – the Eugenio Monti Sliding Center in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy – hasn’t been finished for that long, the experience of all those involved is limited to a minimum. That’s why the start of the World Cup next weekend is doubly important: on the one hand, to get a good feeling right at the start of the winter competition and, on the other hand, to get to know the Winter Games track even better.
Nydegger grabs the last starting position
On Friday, in the first race of the season from a German perspective, Jacqueline Pfeifer (RSG Hochsauerland), Susanne Kreher (BSC Sachsen Oberbärenburg), Hannah Neise (BSC Winterberg) and Corinna Leipold (WSV Königssee) will plunge headfirst down the new ice track.
While the places for the women were already taken at the end of October, things were a little more exciting for the men, at least as far as fourth place on the grid was concerned. The quartet consists of Christopher Grotheer (BRC Thuringia), Axel Jungk (BSC Sachsen Oberbärenburg), Felix Keisinger (WSV Königssee) and Lukas Nydegger (RC Berchtesgaden / Eintracht Frankfurt). The latter had prevailed against Felix Seibel in two final elimination races just last weekend.
National coach Christian Baude has had his eight-man World Cup team together for a few days.
Not everyone is 100 percent
Although all German athletes are looking forward to the start of the World Cup, some have muted expectations. Kreher, double world champion in 2023, still has a few complaints. “She had ankle tendonitis but is on the mend. Susi will be fit to race“, explained national coach Christian Baude. Things are looking a little worse for Olympic champion Grotheer. He suffered a small torn muscle fiber a few weeks ago and, according to the national coach, should only “around 80 percent“We won’t take any risks,” Baude said.
When it comes to driving, there is satisfaction in the German team. Baude sees progress everywhere in terms of development, overall the international test week “everything goes well“. According to Grotheer, the railway is doing it “A lot of fun. I think the change at the top is pretty cool, relatively slow, but very demanding. And from turn eight you notice that it gets significantly faster“.
Much praise for them Framework conditions in Cortina
Even though there is still a lot of construction work in the area around the track, the active people are enjoying their time there, where the 1956 Winter Olympics took place. In addition to sport, nature and cuisine are absolute highlights. The coffee and pasta on site are praised across the board. “I could eat this every day, and I do every day“, says Baude.”Cortina is definitely an asset to the World Cup calendar. The ambience is perfect and the scenery is fantastic“, adds Felix Keisinger. And Jacqueline Pfeifer also joins in: “We’ve had a good time here and I feel very comfortable in Cortina.“
Jacqueline Pfeifer is entering her eleventh World Cup season this year.
A week later on the “new chaos track”
After it didn’t look like for a long time that the 100 million euro railway in the Dolomites would be finished on time and plans for a relocation to North America were already being discussed, everything has now gone well. Another ice channel took over the negative headlines. After Cortina, the Skeletonis continue on to Igls and the traditional location near Innsbruck has developed into a real problem child this winter. The renovation, which cost around 30 million euros and includes a new combination of curves at the end and a new finish area, does not meet the technical requirements.
The canal in the shadow of the Patscherkofel was not approved by the FIL toboggan association and the planned race was moved to Winterberg. The skeletonis, who are docked with the bobsleigh at the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (ISBF), are allowed – or must – start on the other hand. Because they had also previously classified the risk of falling and injury in turns 13 and 14 as too high. After adjustments by the track designers and approval by Olympiaworld Innsbruck, the ISBF finally granted homologation. So the plan is to drive there on November 28th.
Two races in Germany
Before the games, there are five more World Cups after Innsbruck – two of them in Germany. The skeleton circus will be performing in Winterberg on January 2nd and in Altenberg for two weeks. Finally, the dress rehearsal for the Winter Games is taking place in the Ore Mountains in Saxony. And even if things don’t go as hoped by then, the German team won’t just come back to Cortina for sightseeing. “Beijing wasn’t that easy at the beginning either, it took a while to work out the path. That only really worked at the Olympics back thent,” remembers Grotheer. The outcome is known.