Schmid encouraged by Winterberg World Cup results
11th December 2009Britain’s sliders missed out on the medals but produced some strong performances at the fourth round of the Skeleton World Cup at Winterberg in Germany today (Friday).
Five of the six athletes on the two British World Cup teams achieved top-10 finishes in their respective World Cup races, with two of them producing their best World Cup results yet.
All three Brits finished in the top-10 in the women’s race for only the second time at a World Cup. Shelley Rudman came joint fourth and Donna Creighton achieved her highest World Cup finish yet in joint sixth. Amy Williams was 10th.
Rudman is now second in the overall world rankings, with Williams still fifth.
In the men’s race double Olympian Kristan Bromley continued his consistent season by finishing sixth, while Andy Wood came 10th – his best World Cup result yet. Adam Pengilly finished 13th – with a top-10 performance on his second of two runs.
But Great Britain did finish in the medals in the Intercontinental Cup in Cesana, Italy, where Chris Type collected the second gold medal of the Intercontinental Cup campaign.
Andi Schmid, British Skeleton performance director, said: “Obviously we want to we want to be on the podium, but I’m very pleased with our results today as a team. Five of our six athletes finished in the top-10 in their World Cup races.
“Kristan achieved a great result and it was good to see Andy get his first top-10 World Cup finish. Adam did a top-10 run on his second run, so that was a good step forward,” he added. “I was pleased with the improvement by the boys today,”
”Having all three athletes in the top-10 in the women’s race earlier today was also a great result for the team.”
Schmid added: “There are always things to improve on and we will be working on that.”
Ant Sawyer came fourth in today’s Intercontinental Cup race in Cesana, while Dave Swift came 22nd. In the women’s race Sarah Sydney and Maggie Davies came ninth and 11th respectively.
The World Cup action now moves on to Altenberg in Germany next Friday (18th December). The Intercontinental Cup takes a break now, returning to action in Lake Placid, the USA in January.
Winterberg World Cup results - women
Gold: Kerstin Szymkowiak (GER) – 2:04.72
Silver: Mellisa Hollingsworth (CAN) – 2:05.22
Bronze: Svetlana Trunova (RUS) – 2:05.49
Jt 4th: Michelle Kelly (CAN) – 2:05.54
Jt 4th: Shelley Rudman (GBR) – 2:05.54
Jt 6th: Donna Creighton (GBR) – 2:05.73
Jt 6th: Marion Trott (GER) – 2:05.73
10th: Amy Williams (GBR) – 2:06.07
Women’s world rankings
1. Mellisa Hollingsworth (CAN) – 835
2. Shelley Rudman (GBR) - 819
3. Kerstin Szymkowiak (GER) – 729
5. Amy Williams (GBR) – 656
13. Donna Creighton (GBR) – 498
39: Sarah Sydney (GBR) - 215 (note: excludes today’s Intercontinental Cup results)
48: Maggie Davies (GBR) – 155 (note: excludes today’s Intercontinental Cup results)
Winterberg World Cup results – men
Gold: Martins Dukurs (LAT) – 1:59.06
Silver: Frank Rommel (GER) – 1:59.81
Bronze: Alexander Tretiakov (RUS) – 1:59.87
6th: Kristan Bromley (GBR) – 2:00.51
10th: Andy Wood (GBR) – 2:01.28
13th: Adam Pengilly (GBR) – 2:01.47
Men’s world rankings
1. Martins Dukurs (LAT) - 860
2. Frank Rommel (GER) - 811
3. Sandro Stielicke (GER) - 764
9. Kristan Bromley (GBR) – 624
12. Chris Type (GBR) – 540
23. Ant Sawyer (GBR) - 370
25: Dave Swift (GBR) - 352
30: Andy Wood (GBR) – 336
39. Adam Pengilly (GBR) – 253