Team USA’s Austin Florian competes in the men’s skeleton event during the IBSF World Cup at Mount Van Hoevenberg in Lake Placid in March 2024. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)
LAKE PLACID — The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation World Championship have officially kicked off and will begin racing today.
Athletes from a total of 38 nations — the highest number of nations represented in IBSF World Championship history — will compete this weekend, and the next, at the Mount Van Hoevenberg sliding track, across five disciplines.
The World Championships, which kicked off on Wednesday with an Opening Ceremony at the Olympic Center, has been staged in Lake Placid nine times over the years. The most recent was in 2012.
Skeleton races will take place this weekend, along with monobob and two-man racing. While four-man and two-woman bobsled will be held on March 15 and 16.
The U.S. men’s skeleton team will be represented by Austin Florian and Dan Barefoot. This season, Florian finished on the wider podium twice, finishing sixth in Altenberg and fifth in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
A total of 29 men’s skeleton athletes from 17 nations are registered to compete in the IBSF World Championship in Lake Placid.
On the women’s side, Katie Uhlaender, who was crowned the women’s skeleton World Champion the last time the event was held here in 2012, will led the U.S. It will be the 42-year-old’s 10th World Championship.
Along with Uhlaender, the U.S. will be represented by Kelly Curtis and Mystique Ro. The women’s skeleton will feature 30 athletes from 16 nations, and it will mark the 25th anniversary of the first-ever women’s World Championship.
The U.S. athletes are among the favorites in the women’s monobob events. They will be led by pilot’s Kaillie Armbruster Humphries, Elana Meyers Taylor and Kaysha Love.
Love has been the most successful U.S. pilot across this season, with four podium finishes, including one victory in Lillehammer, she finished fifth in the overall IBSF World Cup. Armbruster Humphries is the reigning Olympic monobob champion, as Meyers Taylor won Olympic silver behind her at the Beijing Olympic Winter Games in 2022. A total of 23 pilots from 16 nations are registered to compete in the fourth World Championships in the women’s monobob.
The top U.S. men’s pilot is Frank Del Duca, who has finished in the top six three times this World Cup season in the two-man bobsleigh and only just missed out on the podium in Innsbruck with a close fourth-place finish. The U.S. will also be represented by pilots Geoffrey Gadbois and teammate Kristopher Horn. A total of 34 two-man bobsleigh teams from 18 nations are on the starting list for this World Championship.
General one-day admission is $20 per person for adults and teenagers aged 13 to 64. For juniors and senior — ages 7 to 12 or 65 and older — admission is $15. Entry for children aged 6 and under is free. Those interested can purchase a ticket at tinyurl.com/bder6s83.
