Men’s skeleton will kick off the weekend on Friday, Dec. 14 at 9:30 am EST. Two Americans, Eric Bernotas (Avondale, Pa.) and Zach Lund (Salt Lake City, Utah), are ranked in the top six overall World Cup standings. Bernotas currently sits in second position, just behind Great Britain’s Kristan Bromley. Lund will try to carry momentum from his gold medal performance last week in Park City, Utah into the competition this Friday as he continues to defend his 2007 World Cup title. Caleb Smith (Lake Placid, N.Y.) will look to win on his home track, where he won his first-ever World Cup medal, a silver, last season. Sweeping the medal stand in Lake Placid during the 2006-07 season, Lund Bernotas and Smith are eager to cap the first half of the season in the same dominant style.

Following the men will be the women’s skeleton competition at 1 pm. Katie Uhlaender (Breckenridge, Colo.) took silver last week in Park City, and is feeling comfortable back in the saddle after a stint working for the television show Survivor. Uhlaender is currently ranked fourth in overall points, and will seek to win on her home track in Lake Placid as she defends her 2007 World Cup title. All three of the U.S. women are ranked in the top ten standings, with Courtney Yamada (Boise, Idaho) in ninth, and rookie Annie O’Shea (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.) in tenth.

Saturday, Dec. 15 will start with men’s two-man bobsled competition at 9:30 am. Defending World Cup Champion Steven Holcomb (Park City, Utah) will team with Curt Tomasovicz (Shelby, Neb.) in the hunt for the gold. Holcomb and Tomasovicz are currently ranked first in two-man standings after a silver and gold medal performance in Calgary, Alberta and Park City, respectively. Depending on the status of Mike Kohn’s (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) hamstring injury, Kohn will again pilot USA II with brakeman Steve Langton (Melrose, Mass.). If Kohn is unable to race, up-and-coming driver John Napier (Schenectady, N.Y.) will take the reigns. Joining the World Cup team will be Grayson Fertig (Oxford, Conn.), who made his World Cup debut in the 2006-07 season after winning the overall America’s Cup title. Fertig will team with rookie push athlete Chuck Berkeley (Clayton, Calif.).

Women’s bobsled competition will also take place on Saturday at 1:30 pm. 2006 Olympic silver medalists Shauna Rohbock (Orem, Utah) and Valerie Fleming (Foster City, Calif.), who took bronze last week in Park City, will look to conquer the Lake Placid track this weekend. The duo currently sits in fourth place in overall standings, just 41 points from leader Sandra Kiriasis, 2007 World Cup Champion, from Germany. Erin Pac (Farmington, Conn.), who made her World Cup debut as a driver last season, will team with Emily Azevedo (Chico, Calif.). Pac had her best-ever World Cup result last weekend with a fifth place finish in Park City.

Men’s four-man bobsled will race on Sunday, Dec. 16 at 9:30 am. Holcomb will team with Brock Kreitzburg (Akron, Ohio), Pavle Jovanovic (Tom’s River, N.J.) and Steve Mesler (Calgary, Alberta) as USA I seeks their third gold medal of the season. Holcomb is also ranked first in four-man standings, making him the current overall combined leader. Kohn will team with Jamie Moriarty (Winnetka, Ill.) TJ Burns (Blue Bell, Pa.) and Steve Langton (Melrose, Mass.), who helped push Napier to a career-best eighth place result last week. Fertig’s team of Brian Spickler (Indiana, Pa.), Cory Butner (Yucaipa, Calif.), Jesse Beckom (Winston-Salem, N.C.) will help USA III to explode off the block as the team seeks their first World Cup medal together.

The schedules is as follows, with all times in EST:
Friday, Dec. 14: 9:30 am-Men’s Skeleton; 1 pm- Women’s Skeleton
Saturday, Dec. 15: 9:30 am-Men’s two-man Bobsled; 1:30 pm, Women’s Bobsled
Sunday, Dec. 16: 9:30 am- Men’s four-man Bobsled; 1 pm- Team Competition

Don’t miss the action LIVE and On-Demand on NBCOlympics.com, courtesy of MediaZone. Check out the final runs for each of the events for only $4.99, and find out more about bobsled, skeleton and luge, the fastest sports on ice.

Media interested in attending the World Cup event in Lake Placid should contact Sandy Caligiore, Director of Communications for the Olympic Regional Development Authority, at sandyc@orda.org, or (518) 523-1655.

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: Allianz Life, Columbia Sportswear Company, Speedo, CW-X, KBC Helmets, ULU Boots, Racing Electronics, Schenker Logistics, Lumber Liquidators and Whelen Engineering. For more information, please visit the USBSF Web site at www.usbsf.com.