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O'Shea and Napier with podium finishes for Bobsled and Skeleton teams at Junior World Championships
By Amanda Bird // February 12, 2007
Altenberg, Germany—U.S. junior bobsled and skeleton athletes claimed two podium finishes at the Junior World Championships on one of the most difficult tracks in the world in Altenberg, Germany, battling Olympians and World Cup athletes for the medals. Finishing sixth in two-man bobsled for the first U.S. podium finish was driver John Napier (Schenectady, N.Y.) and brakeman Jamie Moriarty (Winnetka, Ill.). 2006-07 America’s Cup Champion Annie O’Shea (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.) led the U.S. women’s skeleton team with a fifth place finish, while John Daly (Smithtown, N.Y.) took the lead for the U.S. men, placing tenth.
Women’s bobsled also competed on Thursday, Feb. 8. Jamia Jackson (Flagstaff, Ariz.) and brakewoman Kristen Skaugen (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) from the U.S. did not compete after crashing earlier in the week. Jackson began driving bobsled earlier this season, and claimed the 2006-07 America’s Cup title, proving to be a future threat.
In skeleton, the week saw several crashes and injuries, including a Romanian slider that broke her jaw. Despite a few bumps and bruises, all of the U.S. skeleton sliders were able to compete, and even battle for the podium.
“I’m really proud of our junior team,” Junior World Championship skeleton coach Katie Koczynski said. “Altenberg is notoriously difficult. Even Katie Uhlaender, who’s the current World Cup leader, has crashed here. This is the kind of track that once you learn how to drive it, you feel like you can do anything, and you gain confidence to slide on other tracks.”
Women’s skeleton raced on Saturday, Feb. 10, with O’Shea taking the lead for the U.S. team, finishing in sixth for a podium position. O’Shea had runs of 1:01.66 and 1:02.42 for a combined time of 2:04.08.
“Annie did an awesome job,” Koczynski said. “After only having twelve runs on this track, being able to finish in the top six is impressive. Annie is a true competitor, and I think we’ll be seeing her continue to improve and grow in the next year. She’s definitely a threat.”
Cassie Revelli (Highland, Utah) finished in twelfth, only 0.18 seconds from a top ten finish, with a combined time of 2:06.10 after runs of 1:02.91 and 1:03.19.
“Cassie crashed during training out of the kreisel corner, which is a 360-degree curve, and was completely off her sled,” Koczynski said. “She took it like a trooper and made huge strides through the week. She was able to really understand the track, and Cassie is a great driver.”
In fourteenth was Leah Ford (Sterling, N.Y.) with runs of 1:03.28 and 1:04.11 for a total of 2:07.39.
The men’s skeleton competition took place on Saturday, Feb. 10, where the race saw the top four spots taken by World Cup competitors and Olympians.
Daly led the U.S. men with a tenth place finish after runs of 1:00.34 and 1:00.16 for a combined time of 2:00.50. Finishing twelfth was Matt Antoine (Prairie du Chien, Wis.), who finished the America’s Cup season ranked second overall, with a total time of 2:00.89 (1:00.51, 1:00.38). Matt Revelli (Highland, Utah) finished in seventeenth with a time of 2:03.49 after runs of 1:01.92 and 1:01.57.
“This is a tough, tough track,” Koczynski said. “To not only be battling a track like Altenberg, but to be competing against some of the best athletes in the world shows how strongly our junior team finished.”
“I can’t emphasize enough how difficult the men’s field was,” Koczynski said. “It was an incredible experience for our junior team, and now they know they can compete against the best in the world and walk away with a respectable finish.”
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