The German women’s bobsleigh team won the prestigious World Cup in St. Gallen. Moritz and thus secured three starting places for the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang.
Four weeks before the Winter Games Mariama Jamanka (Oberhof) and pusher Annika Drazek finished second in a very fast race and only Elana Meyers Taylor from the USA had to admit defeat.
Stephanie Schneider (Oberbärenburg) and Lisa Buckwitz finished in a strong third place. Anna Köhler had problems with Erline Nolte on Saturday and didn’t get past rank 17.
Nonetheless, the German association BSD is now ranked second behind the USA in the women’s nation ranking on the cut-off date, with only the two best countries getting three places on the grid for South Korea.
“This is the most important thing,”said BSD sports director Thomas Schwab to the SID:”We can be very proud of this, because we had to make a new start for the women after the Olympic Games in 2014. At the beginning of the season we certainly didn’t expect three places on the starting grid, but in the course of the winter this has become more and more apparent. I’m very happy for our young team.”
In St.. Moritz disappointed, among others, the Canadian Olympic champion Kaillie Humphries, who finished in 9th place with a new sled. The German Bobs from the original equipment supplier FES impressed with their high final speed, which at the same time gave Francesco Friedrich hope.
The world champion from Oberbärenburg had a hard time this season with a piece of equipment from the Austrian manufacturer Wallner and struggled with the speed.
So last weekend he switched back to a FES bob. Such a risky change of material just before the Olympics, but it could pay off.