Contact: Amanda Bird, USBSF Marketing & Communications Director
(518) 354-2250, abird@usbsf.com

2013 World Championships begin on Friday in St. Moritz

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland (Jan. 22, 2013)-The 2013 World Championships begin this Friday on the world’s only naturally refrigerated track in the world.  A crew of ice workers construct the track each November using snow and water, creating unique variations to the course each season.  St. Moritz is draped by picturesque snow covered mountains, and is one of the most celebrated stops on tour by athletes from around the world.  

Each of the five disciplines will have four runs over two days of racing to make their bid for the 2013 World Championship title.  This weekend competitors in women’s bobsled and men’s two-man bobsled will race for gold, followed by the team event to conclude the first week of World Championship racing.

The detailed schedule is as follows, with all times listed in local time and EST in parentheses:

Friday, Jan. 25

10:05 a.m. (4:05 a.m.) – Women’s bobsled heat #1

11:45 p.m. (5:45 a.m.) – Women’s bobsled race heat #2

Saturday, Jan. 26

9 a.m.  (3 a.m.)– Men’s two-man bobsled heat #1

10:30 a.m. (4:30 a.m.)– Men’s two-man bobsled race heat #2

12:45 p.m. (6:45 a.m.)– Women’s bobsled race heat #3

2:10 p.m. (8:10 a.m.)- Women’s bobsled race heat #4

Sunday, Jan. 27

10 a.m. (4 a.m.)- Men’s two-man bobsled race heat #3

11:45 a.m. (5:45 a.m.)-Men’s two-man bobsled race heat #4

2:15 p.m. (8:15 a.m.)- Team event

The selection committee met following the last World Cup event to determine the 2013 World Championships driver and brakeman pairings for this weekend’s races.  Elana Meyers (Douglasville, Ga.) will team with her 2012 World Championship bronze medal brakeman Katie Eberling (Palos Hills, Ill.).  Jamie Greubel (Newtown, Pa.) and Emily Azevedo (Chico, Calif.) earned their first career World Cup medal together two weeks ago and will have a chance to add a World Championship medal to their growing sliding resumes this weekend.  Jazmine Fenlator (Wayne, N.J.) and Aja Evans (Chicago, Ill.) are fresh from claiming bronze last weekend in Igls, Austria, and hope to turn their fortunate into gold.

Steven Holcomb (Park City, Utah) and Steve Langton (Melrose, Mass.) made history last season after winning the first-ever two-man bobsled World Championship title for the U.S. program, and the pair will team together again this season to defend their title.  Cory Butner (Yucaipa, Calif.) pocketed two silver medals in two-man races earlier this season and hopes to continue his success with Chris Fogt (Alpine, Utah) in his sled. Nick Cunningham (Monterey, Calif.) will team with fellow National Guardsman Dallas Robinson (Georgetown, Ky.) in the hunt for their first two-man podium finish this season.

The U.S. will field two squads in the team event on Sunday, and combinations are still to be determined. Competitors in men’s four-man bobsled, women’s skeleton and men’s skeleton will race for the 2013 World Championship title next week from Jan. 31-Feb. 3.

Please contact Amanda Bird, USBSF Marketing & Communications Director, at abird@usbsf.com or 518-354-2250 with media inquiries.

About the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation
The United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, based in Lake Placid, N.Y., is the national governing body for the sports of bobsled and skeleton in the United States. The USBSF would like to thank its sponsors, suppliers and contributors for their support: BMW of North America, Under Armour, United States National Guard, Kampgrounds of America, WIDIA, Vivat!, Global Forwarding, KBC Helmets, Azad Watches, Latta USA, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Autism Speaks, Park City Lodging, EDAS/Ripxx, UberSense, Tesa Tape and Ferris Mfg. Corp. For more information, please visit the USBSF website at http://bobsled.teamusa.org.

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