Six-strong GB team prepare for World Cup challenge
British Skeleton has named a six-strong team to compete on the World Cup circuit for the first part of the 2009/10 season – a season that culminates in the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
Shelley Rudman, Britain’s Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games silver medallist, and Amy Williams, silver medallist at the 2009 World Championships, are joined by Donna Creighton in the GB women’s team for the first five World Cup competitions of the season.
Former World Champion Kristan Bromley and 2009 World Championship silver medallist Adam Pengilly are joined in the men’s team by Andy Wood.
It is the first time Great Britain has qualified places for three men and three women to compete on the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing (FIBT) World Cup circuit.
Creighton and Wood secured places on the World Cup team following their performances at selection trials on the Lake Placid track in the USA. Rudman, Williams, Bromley and Pengilly were pre-selected for the first five World Cup races of the season, which run up to the Christmas break.
Creighton won both of the women’s selection races. Ant Sawyer edged Wood into second place by just a hundredth of a second in the opening men’s race, but Wood turned the tables in the second race, finishing 0.59 seconds ahead of Sawyer to secure the final men’s berth.
Sawyer, Dave Swift and Chris Type will represent Great Britain in the Intercontinental Cup series, along with Maggie Davies and Sarah Sydney.
Bromley, Pengilly, Sawyer, Wood, Creighton, Davies Rudman, and Williams are currently in Canada for a series of test runs on the Whistler Sliding Centre track that will be used at the Olympic Winter Games.
The 2009/10 season is particularly significant as it reaches its climax at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.
Nations may qualify up to three places per gender for the Olympic Winter Games, with qualification based on the placings of nations’ athletes on the FIBT World Ranking list after round seven of the World Cup.
The FIBT World Ranking list takes into account performances on both the World Cup and Intercontinental Cup circuits. Final selections are made by the British Olympic Association.
Key dates in the 2009/10 skeleton season
26.10.09-07.11.09: training fortnight at Vancouver 2010 track
12.11.09: Men’s & women’s World Cup 1 – Park City, USA
20.11.09: Men’s & women’s World Cup 2 – Lake Placid, USA
27.11.09: Men’s & women’s Intercontinental Cup 1 – Winterberg, Germany
29.11.09: Men’s & women’s Intercontinental Cup 2 – Winterberg, Germany
04.12.09: Men’s & women’s World Cup 3 – Cessana, Italy
05.12.09: Men’s & women’s Intercontinental Cup 3 – Konigssee, Germany
11.12.09: Men’s & women’s World Cup 4 – Winterberg, Germany
11.12.09: Men’s & women’s Intercontinental Cup 4 – Cessana, Italy
18.12.09: Men’s & women’s World Cup 5 – Altenberg, Germany
07.01:10: Men’s & women’s Intercontinental Cup 5 – Lake Placid, USA
08.01.10: Men’s & women’s World Cup 6 – Konigssee, Germany
14.01.10: Men’s & women’s Intercontinental Cup 6 – Calgary, Canada
15.01.10: Men’s & women’s World Cup 7 – St Moritz, Switzerland
15.01.10: Men’s & women’s Intercontinental Cup 7 – Calgary, Canada
22.01.10: Women’s World Cup 8 (including Euro Champs) – Igls, Austria
22.01.10: Men’s & women’s Intercontinental Cup 8 – Park City, USA
23.01.10: Men’s World Cup 8 (including Euro Champs) – Igls, Austria
12.02.10-28.02.10: Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, Canada
18.02.10: Men’s & women’s Olympic heats 1 & 2 – Whistler, Canada
19.02.10: Men’s & women’s Olympic heats 3 & 4 – Whistler, Canada
British Skeleton Notes for Editors
The British Skeleton Programme is managed and prepared by British Skeleton Ltd and funded by UK Sport, The National Lottery, and TASS. It is also supported by partners Adidas, Tesa UK, BAE SYSTEMS and service suppliers TeamBath and the English Institute of Sport
Skeleton is one of Britain’s most successful Winter Olympic Games sports – British athletes having won medals at each of the last two Games.
Shelley Rudman won silver at the Torino Olympic Winter Games in 2006 – Britain’s only medal of the Games – while Alex Coomber won bronze in Salt Lake City four years earlier.
British sliders have also won many medals at recent World Championships, World Cups and European Championships.
Amy Williams and Adam Pengilly both won silver medals at the 2009 World Championships, while Shelley Rudman won the 2009 European Championships and finished runner-up in the 2008/9 World Cup series. Kristan Bromley won the 2008 World and European Championships as well as the overall 2007/8 World Cup series.
For further information please contact the British Skeleton press office at Matchtight Limited on 01225 383518/ 01225 443998 or out of hours on 07765 071 683.
