Team USA’s Austin Florian competes in Thursday’s men’s skeleton event during the IBSF World Cup at Mount Van Hoevenberg in Lake Placid. He finished in 10th place but became the first Pan-American champion in IBSF history. The World Cup continues today with the two-woman and four-man bobsled events.(Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)
LAKE PLACID — USA Bobsled and Skeleton recently announced its upcoming World Cup bobsled team.
The team includes four women’s pilots, and six push athlete while the men’s team included three pilots and 11 push athletes.
After taking maternity leave last season, Kaillie Humphries returns to the team. Pilots Elana Meyers-Taylor and Kaysha Love also earned a bye onto the team from their 2023/24 World Championships results. The fourth spot was awarded to Sylvia Hoffman following selection races last week in Lake Placid.
The six push female athletes selected are as follows: Bailey Golden, Azaria Hill, Jasmine Jones, Lolo Jones, Sadie McMullen and Emily Renna. However, McMullen and Lolo Jones have pre-planned obligations for the first half of the season and were replaced by Jestena Mattson and Michelle Quinn for the start of the season. The selection committee will meet in December to review the first half and select the World Cup team for the second half of the season.
The men’s pilots did not receive a bye based on performance from the previous season. Frankie Del Duca, Geoff Gadbois and Kris Horn earned spots from their results in the selection races.
The male push athletes who have been named to the World Cup team are as follows: Hakeem Abdul-Saboor, Adrian Adams, Bryce Cheek, Martin Christofferson, Dylan Gilbert, Manteo Mitchell, Boone Niederhofer, Hunter Powell, Bryan Sosoo, Carsten Vissering and Charlie Volker.
The first bobsled World Cup race of the year is slated for Dec. 7 in Altenberg, Germany.
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Skeleton
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The U.S. World Cup skeleton team for the first half of the sliding season was also announced last week.
For the women, the USA earned three quota spots. Mystique Ro earned a bye based on her IBSF ranking from the 2023/24 season.
Katie Uhlaender and Sara Roderick were awarded the other two spots based on their results in selection races on Nov. 2 in Park City, Utah. Kelly Curtis earned the fourth World Cup spot from the IBSF maternity clause.
For the men, USA earned three quota spots with Austin Florian, Dan Barefoot and Nick Tucker being named to the World Cup team based on their results from the selection races. However, due to the IBSF World Cup schedule and the necessary planning required to go to Asia, the committee has discretionarily awarded the first three races to Hunter Williams. Tucker could then assume the third WC spot after the Asian races.
