The bobsleigh and skeleton team is complete and aggressive. At the first race in Europe (December 8th to 10th), the German drivers are among the favorites – and one is particularly hot.
Bobsleigh record winner Francesco Friedrich had more than three weeks to digest the opening defeats. After the winless At the start of the World Cup in China, the bobsleigh dominator twisted a lot of screws and joked with his German competitor Johannes Lochner, who was ahead in Beijing: “Yes, the school trip to Beijing was quite nice, Hansi had fun three times, but now we’re fighting back in Europe.”
Ammour impressed in the qualifying race
The first “real” World Cup of this season is taking place in the ice channel in La Plagne, France. China can safely be seen as a foreplay. It was only a small delegation that took on the rigors of the journey.
Germany, for example, only started with two bobsleighs, the women were completely left out. That changes this weekend. Among the men, Adam Ammour completes the German men’s team as team number 3. The 22-year-old Thuringian had impressively prevailed in all four selection races and could have a great future ahead of him.
Start for the bobsleigh women
On France’s only track, built for the 1992 Olympic Games in Albertville, German pilots Laura Nolte, Kim Kalicki and Lisa Buckwitz will also be competing in the mono and two-man bobsleigh for the first time this winter.
Olympic champion Nolte should start with plenty of self-confidence. Together with pusher Neele Schuten, she won the national title on her home track in Winterberg – the world champions will be crowned on that track this season. “That’s why it was really nice to compete there before the World Championships”says Nolte, who in France has to fear competition from her own team.
Bobsleigh Olympic champion Laura Nolte (l.) starts the season this weekend.
Buckwitz – Explore the train with internet videos
Lisa Buckwitz mastered the difficult path to becoming a pilot well and is in La Plagne for the first time. It was precisely for this reason that she arrived a little earlier. “I had four runs before the official training started. I usually work on a new track via internet videos, and then of course also through track inspections with the trainers.”says the former pusher. “The track is relatively special because there are 19 curves – that’s rather long. That’s why you don’t have a clear overview in the first few trips, but little by little you’ll get it.”laughs Buckwitz, who switched from pusher to pilot and once became European champion in Kim Kalicki’s sled in 2022, among other things.
Kalicki with anger in his stomach?
Now both are competitors as pilots. Kalicki lost the overall victory to Nolte in a dramatic final last season and should be motivated accordingly. If you want to make it to the bobsleigh throne, you also have to defeat the American Elana Meyers Taylor. After giving birth to her second child, Meyers Taylor, one of the world’s best pilots, will make her comeback this winter.
Eight skeletons at the start for the first time
The Skeletonis team has grown tremendously. For the first time, eight instead of six German athletes are competing in the World Cup. In addition to Tina Hermann, Susanne Kreher and Christopher Grotheer, Axel Jungk, Felix Keisinger, Felix Seibel as well as Hannah Neise and Jacqueline Pfeifer race headfirst through the ice channel in La Plagne.