British Bobsleigh Association
Junior World Championships - Igls Race Report, February 2008
09 February 2008
The Junior World Championships were held at Igls in Austria, where the 2007 - 08 Europa Cup bobsleigh season started back in November 2007. The Junior World Championships are open to competitors under the age of 26 who have taken part in at least three Europa Cup, or America Cup races on two tracks in the previous 24 months. Under these criteria, Great Britain only entered the Women's Race.
The small mountain village of Igls is situated high above Innsbruck on a plateau and has twice hosted the Winter Olympic Games, in 1964, when Great Britain's Tony Nash and Robin Dixon (now Lord Robin Glentoran) were victorious in the 2-Man bobsleigh, and again in 1976. The Igls bobsleigh track was one of the first refrigerated tracks in the world and drops 98.1 metres along its 1,220 m length.
Women's Bobsleigh Race
The Women's Junior World Championships were held on 9th February 2008 over two race runs and 14 teams took part. At the end of the first run, the Switzerland 1 team of Fabienne Meyer and Marina Gilardoni led from the Germany 1 team of Stefanie Szczurek and Patricia Polifka, who were a couple of tenths of a second clear of a close group of five teams, which included Paula Walker and Heather Fisher of Great Britain.
The race was won by Switzerland 1 from Germany 1, but behind these two, fortunes changed among the following group of five during their second runs. A creditable 6th after the first run, Paula Walker and Heather Fisher were 3rd fastest on their second run, which earned them a well deserved 5th place overall in the final standings, ahead of the Irish girls Aoife Hoey and Jennifer Ann Corcoran who similarly put in a good performance to finish 6th overall. The remaining medal positions went to Russia 1, who came 3rd, and USA 1, who came 4th.
For Paula and Heather, finishing 5th in the Junior World Championships was the culmination of a good international season. The girls start times were just a couple of hundredths of a second shy of the fastest, and as Paula, who is in the Army Royal Signals Regiment, is in her first season of driving, this bodes well for the future!
Thanks go to Peter Gunn, who is employed by the Army, and has coached the Europa Cup Men and Women's Teams throughout the 2007 - 08 season.
Race Report written by Mark Carter
The small mountain village of Igls is situated high above Innsbruck on a plateau and has twice hosted the Winter Olympic Games, in 1964, when Great Britain's Tony Nash and Robin Dixon (now Lord Robin Glentoran) were victorious in the 2-Man bobsleigh, and again in 1976. The Igls bobsleigh track was one of the first refrigerated tracks in the world and drops 98.1 metres along its 1,220 m length.
Women's Bobsleigh Race
The Women's Junior World Championships were held on 9th February 2008 over two race runs and 14 teams took part. At the end of the first run, the Switzerland 1 team of Fabienne Meyer and Marina Gilardoni led from the Germany 1 team of Stefanie Szczurek and Patricia Polifka, who were a couple of tenths of a second clear of a close group of five teams, which included Paula Walker and Heather Fisher of Great Britain.
The race was won by Switzerland 1 from Germany 1, but behind these two, fortunes changed among the following group of five during their second runs. A creditable 6th after the first run, Paula Walker and Heather Fisher were 3rd fastest on their second run, which earned them a well deserved 5th place overall in the final standings, ahead of the Irish girls Aoife Hoey and Jennifer Ann Corcoran who similarly put in a good performance to finish 6th overall. The remaining medal positions went to Russia 1, who came 3rd, and USA 1, who came 4th.
For Paula and Heather, finishing 5th in the Junior World Championships was the culmination of a good international season. The girls start times were just a couple of hundredths of a second shy of the fastest, and as Paula, who is in the Army Royal Signals Regiment, is in her first season of driving, this bodes well for the future!
Thanks go to Peter Gunn, who is employed by the Army, and has coached the Europa Cup Men and Women's Teams throughout the 2007 - 08 season.
Race Report written by Mark Carter