QAS athlete Bree Walker has recorded two top-10 performances at the World Cup Bobsleigh events over the weekend in St Moritz, Switzerland.

Competing on the spectacular hand cut ice on the natural St Moritz track, athletes had a difficult week with lots of snow falling, making training difficult ahead of the competition days.

In the monobob event on Saturday, Walker finished in seventh place, 1.03 second behind the event winner, Kaillie Humphries of the USA, with Laura Nolte of Germany in second and Martina Fontanive of Switzerland in third.

On Sunday Walker teamed up with breakwoman Sarah Blizzard in the two-woman event, finishing in ninth place, their fourth top-10 of the season. 

Taking the win was the German pair of Stephanie Schneider/Leonie Fiebig, with Americans Elana Meyers Taylor/Sylvia Hoffman in second place, with the Swiss team of Melanie Hasler/Irina Strebel in third.

The World Cup tour will now head to Konigssee, Germany, for a monobob event on January 23 and bobsleigh on January 24.
 
IMAGE: Bree Walker and Sarah Blizzard on the scenic St Moritz track © Rekords

The bobsleigh team of pilot Bree Walker (QAS) and breakwoman Sarah Blizzard have made a strong start to 2021, with a ninth place finish in the World Cup event in Winterberg, Germany.

The team had the ninth fastest run in the opening round, and then stepped it up in the second run to record an impressive fifth fastest time on the Winterberg track.

Taking the win was the German pair of Laura Nolte/Deborah Levi with the second German team of Kim Kalicki/Ann-Christin Strack in the silver medal position, with Katrin Beierl/Jennifer Onasanya of Austria in third.

"Very happy to kick the new year off with another top-10 result in Winterberg and with the progress we are making in the two-man this season" Walker commented after the race.

The next World Cup on the IBSF bobsleigh tour will be in St Moritz, Switzerland, with a monobob event on January 16, and a two woman event on January 17.

IMAGE: Walker & Blizzard happy (smiles under the mask) with their start to 2021 in Winterberg © Rekords

The bobsleigh team of pilot Bree Walker and breakwoman Sarah Blizzard have finished 2020 with back-to-back top-ten performances in Innsbruck, Austria.

Innsbruck hosted a second weekend of World Cup events to reduce travel for the teams during COVID, with the pair finishing in a personal best eighth place a week earlier.

Walker and Blizzard were sitting in ninth place after the first run, and managed to go faster in the second run but recorded the 11th fastest run of the round. After the two runs of competition the final finishing position was tenth.

"Top ten finish and another start PB", said Sarah Blizzard after the race.

"Now time for Christmas break and we go again next year".

The next World Cup on the IBSF bobsleigh tour will be in Winterberg, Germany, on January 9.

2018 Olympian and QAS athlete Jackie Narracott has made an encouraging start to the 2020-2021 World Cup skeleton season, with an eighth place performance in Innsbruck, Austria.
 
Narracott had been based in Bath, UK, preparing for the northern hemisphere winter, and only returned to the skeleton track a week prior to the World Cup.
 
It was a PB result for Narracott on the Innsbruck track, easily eclipsing her previous best 15th in January 2020.
 
Narracott was in ninth position after the first run, but improved in the second round with the sixth fastest run, giving her an overall placing of eighth.
 
The event was won by Austrian Janine Flock, with Kimberly Bos of the Netherlands in second and German Jacqueline Loelling in third.
 
The next World Cup on the IBSF Skelton tour will be in Winterberg, Germany, on January 8.

Bree Walker has started her season in the best possible way, taking gold in the monobob World Series event in Innsbruck, Austria.

Walker has now competed in eight monobob events, emerging victorious an impressive six times in the new Olympic event which will debut in Beijing 2022. 

Finishing in second place 0.44 seconds behind Walker was German Laura Nolte, with local Austrian slider Katrin Beierl 0.56 seconds in third place.

"The edge I believe has come from all the work I have done off the track this summer," the QAS athlete commented after the race.

"This year hasn’t been easy. I wasn’t able to go back to Australia because of COVID, but I have been able to spend the summer training in Germany with my push coach and some of the best bobsleigh athletes in the business. This time allowed me to solely focusing on becoming the best athlete I can be so I have made huge improvements physically and mentally.
 
"It’s an unbelievable sight seeing the 1 next to your name but honestly it didn’t really hit me until I saw my bobsleigh teammate Sarah run up to me and give me a huge hug. Even though this is more of an individual event i honestly couldn’t of done it without my team."
 
"My goal is to continue to progress my pushing and driving skills in both the monobob and twoman events and this time actually make it to the big dance. Unfortunately last time I missed out on the 2018 Winter Olympics, so now my team and I have full focus on doing everything it takes to qualify for the 2022 Winter Olympics. From there anything is possible."

The competition in Innsbruck was the first Monobob event to be run in conjunction with a BMW IBSF World Cup.

Walker will be back in action tomorrow in Innsbruck, competing in the two woman bobsleigh World Cup  with breakwoman Sarah Blizzard.

Alpine Skiing
Greta Small continued her injury rehabilitation at the AIS in Canberra making great progress with the Strength and Conditioning Staff in the gym before heading to Jindabyne for most of the winter to return to on snow training. After leaving Jindabyne, Small returned to the AIS for a further six-week intensive Strength and Conditioning bock.
 
Small is planning on heading to Europe for on snow training in mid December.
 
Bobsleigh
Bree Walker has been in Europe since last winter preparing for the northern hemisphere season, and has taken part in a number of successful push and sliding camp activities.
 
Unfortunately, Walker was unable to compete at opening two World Cup events in Sigulda, Latvia, after a member of her support team tested positive for COVID.
 
Bree is now planning for the next event on the Bobsleigh World Cup tour in Innsbruck, Austria, on December 12-13.
 
Curling
Mixed doubles pair Dean Hewitt & Tahli Gill have been training in their home states, with Hewitt at the Victorian Institute of Sport and Gill at the Queensland Academy of Sport.

With International travel restrictions in place it has been very difficult to access overseas Curling Ice to date.

The pair are aiming to be back on the ice training perhaps in Asia, by January in preparation for the 2021 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championships in late April. The event has been moved to Europe, with the exact location to be announced.
 
Figure Skating
Brendan Kerry has been based in Europe, training in France and Russia.
 
Kerry was scheduled to compete in the Internationaux de France ISU Grand Prix event in mid November, but it was unfortunately cancelled due to COVID restrictions in France.
 
Kailani Craine has remained at home in Newcastle training at her local ice rink, with Ice Dance couple Chantelle Kerry Andrew Dodds also training in Sydney.
 
Skeleton
Jackie Narracott has been training in Bath, UK, preparing for the northern hemisphere winter.
 
Narracott is currently evaluating the best plan, locations and opportunities for training and competition during the international season due to the difficult COVID situation in Europe.

The AOC is deeply saddened by news of the passing of 2018 Winter Olympian Ekaterina (Katia) Alexandrovskaya in Moscow.

Katia was twice Australian national champion in pairs figure skating with her partner and Australia’s first Indigenous Winter Olympian, Harley Windsor. The pair represented Australia at PyeongChang 2018, placing 18th.

Chef de Mission for the 2018 Australian Team in PyeongChang, Ian Chesterman, says the news is a terrible blow for all those who knew Katia, who was a popular member of the Australian Team in South Korea in 2018.


“It is enormously sad to lose Katia who was a vibrant and talented person and an incredible athlete.

“She was quiet and humble in her manner but incredibly determined to be the best she could be.


“Katia was an important member of our Team in PyeongChang, who loved the opportunity to compete with Harley and embraced her time in the Australian Olympic Team.


“We are all deeply saddened to hear the news today. Life since the Games has not been easy for her and this is another timely reminder of just how fragile life is.


“Katia’s death is another blow to our winter sports community who is still reeling from our loss of Chumpy Pullin.


“But we are a close-knit community that will continue to offer support to each other at this incredibly sad time."


Olympic Winter Institute of Australia CEO Geoff Lipshut says Katia has a special place in Australia’s winter sport history.


“Katia and Harley were Australia’s first figure skating World Champions. She came to Australia to fulfill her sporting dreams.


“With Harley, they were World Junior Champions and World Junior Grand Prix Champions in 2017 and then proud members of the 2018 Australian Olympic team in Korea, 2018.


“The news today is so sad, my thoughts are with Katia’s family in Russia , Harley and the skating community in Australia. I will remember Katya as a young person of great talent and remarkable potential,” Mr Lipshut concluded.

OWIA Bobsleigh athlete Bree Walker has continued her great form in the new Olympic sport of monobob, winning back to back events over the weekend in La Plagne, France.
 
Walker has now won three straight monobob events, having won the last event she entered in at Königssee, Germany, back in mid December.
 
On day one Walker finished 0.78 seconds ahead of Karlien Sleper of the Netherlands, and on day two the winning margin was a close 0.07 seconds ahead of Andreea Grecu of Romania. On both days Mica McNeill of Great Britain finished in third place.
 
Sarah Blizzard, who competes as a breakwoman for Walker in the 2-woman bobsleigh event, made her monobob debut, finishing in 14th place on day one, and 11th place on day two.
 
The final competition of the season for the athletes will be in Lake Placid, NY, USA, with a monobob event scheduled to take place on April 3.

IMAGE: Bree Walker, and Sarah Blizzard with Margot Boch of France.

The Australian Figure Skating community is very excited for our team at the upcoming ISU World Figure Skating Championships being held in Montreal, Canada, later this month.

Our team almost covered every discipline, however the very recent and unexpected split of our Junior World & Junior Grand Prix Pair Champions has left a hole in the team.

This year’s Championship will feature for the first time ever the ISU World Skating Awards with our ice princess, Olympian Kailani Craine nominated in the best costume category. Kailani will compete in the ladies division alongside two time Olympian Brendan Kerry in the mens.

In the ice dance division we have a brilliant new couple Holly Harris and Jason Chan competing in their first World Championship.  

Be sure to tune in for what promises to deliver fantastic performances from our team.

Next year, for the first time ever, Ice Skating Australia will host the prestigious ISU Four Continents Championships in Sydney at Olympic Park Feb. 9-14, 2021.

These Championships will feature the top ranked skaters from US, Canada, Japan, China and Australia in the important pre Winter Olympic year.

Article courtesy of Peter Lynch/Ice Skating Australia

IMAGE: Australian National Champions and our representative at the World Championships, Kailani Craine, Brendan Kerry, Holly Harris and Jason Chan  © Michael Santer Photography

Jackie Narracott has had an unfortunate end to a positive season, finishing 27th at the World Championships in Altenberg, Germany.

Narracott was in 21st place following the first run, but a crash on her second run ended any chance of a high finish.

"Crashing out of corner four in run two yesterday meant my World Championships were over sooner than expected," Narracott commented after the race.

"Right now it hurts like hell and I feel like I've let a lot of people down, however, one bad mistake doesn't change the fact I had my best season on World Cup and got through healthy, the only real goal."

"This year's World Championships were a lesson and eventually I'll be ok with that."

During the World Cup season Narracott had some strong performances, highlighted by a ninth place finish at the World Cup in Lake Placid, USA.
 
IMAGE:  © rekords

Australia's leading mixed doubles curling team, Dean Hewitt and Tahli Gill, have achieved their best result of the 2019/2020 international season, claiming silver at the Sutherland Mixed Doubles Curling Classic in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

After convincing wins in the quarter final and semi final rounds, the team advanced through to the gold medal playoff, facing the team of Chaelynn Kitz and Brayden Stewart of Canada, narrowly going down six points to four.

"We had a great event here in Saskatoon, Canada", Hewitt commented after the event.

"There were a number of great teams including some going to the World Championships with us in April."

"It was promising to see that we could put together all that we built on from our training camps and different coaches we’ve been working with over the past seven weeks."

"We had three good events leading up to this one but we were always one win or just centimeters away from making the playoffs.

"Reaching the final in our last event here gives us more motivation for when we head to Europe in March. We’re feeling great out there on the ice and can’t wait until Scotland."

"We head home now for a little rest and build up our gym work for the next month."

The next event on the schedule for Hewitt and Gill is the International Mixed Doubles competition in Dumfries, Scotland, during March 19-22.

IMAGE: © Team Gill/Hewitt Instagram

Australian Olympian Jackie Narracott has competed in the World Cup event in St Moritz Switzerland, the second last World Cup event of the season.

Narracott finished the skeleton event 2.57 second behind the event winner Tina Hermann of Germany, with her first run ranked 17th, and second run 13th, to give her an overall ranking of 15th out of a field size of 24.

"15th yesterday, not exactly thrilled by it but I can say that my two best runs of the week were the ones that counted," Narracott commented after the race.

"Looking forward to some (mostly) pressure free sliding in Altenberg as the prep for Worlds heats up."

The next stop on the skeleton World Cup tour will be in Sigulda, Latvia, on February 16, the last event before the 2021 World Championships in Altenberg, Germany, on February 28-29.

In other sliding sports news, two Australian bobsleigh teams competed in the Europa Cup event in Innsbruck, Austria.

Bree Walker & Stephanie Fernandez finished in 10th place, with Ashleigh Werner & Mikaela Sparre in 21st place.

IMAGE: © Jackie Narracott Instagram

Australia's Bobsleigh and Skeleton athletes have competed in the World Cup event in Königssee, Germany, with  Olympian Jackie Narracott again the best performed Australian athlete.

Narracott finished the skeleton event 1.91 second behind the event winner Tina Hermann of Germany. After some mistakes on her first run where she was ranked 17th, Narracott had a much improved second run which was the 11th fastest down the track, giving her a final placing of 13th overall.

"Stoked with my second run yesterday. ended up in 13th after I figured out the groove (oops), " Narracott commented after the race.

"On to the perfection that is St Moritz!"

The two-woman bobsleigh team of Bree Walker and Stefanie Fernandez finished 16th, 2.44 seconds behind the first place sled of Kaillie Humphries and Sylvia Hoffmann of the USA.

The next stop on the World Cup tour will be in St Moritz, Switzerland, from January 31 to February 2nd.

IMAGE: © Jackie Narracott Instagram

Australia's Bobsleigh and Skeleton athletes have competed in the World Cup event in Innsbruck, Austria, with  Olympian Jackie Narracott highlighting the Australian performances.

Narracott finished the Skeleton event in 15th place, a personal best finish on the Igls track, 1.24 second behind the event winner.

"Relief, happiness and pride all mixed into one", Narracott commented after the race.

"15th (my best result here) and a huge PB is everything I hoped for but more than I was expecting out of this race."

"Leaving Igls feeling good for the first time after having learnt lots. Time for Königssee!"

Also in action for Australia in the Skeleton was Nicholas Timmings in 25th place.

The two-woman Bobsleigh team of Bree Walker and Sarah Blizzard finished 16th, 2.34 seconds behind first place.

The next stop on the World Cup tour will be in Königssee, Germany, from January 24-26.

IMAGE: © Jackie Narracott Instagram

The OWIA Curling Mixed Doubles team of Dean Hewitt and Tahli Gill, have commenced their international season campaign at a number of World Curling Tour events in Canada.

The first event for the team was the Qualico Mixed Doubles Classic, which took place in Canmore/Banff, Alberta, Canada, on January 2-5. At the event they had three wins and two losses in round robin play, and finished second in Group C, but did not advance to the playoff stage.

The next event was the Brantford Mixed Doubles Cashspiel in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, on January 10-12, with Team Hewitt (VIS Scholarship) & Gill (QAS Scholarship) recording two wins and three losses to place fourth in Pool A, and did not progress to playoffs.

Over the weekend, the team competed in the Stu Sells Toronto Cricket Mixed Doubles Cashspiel in Toronto, Canada, but unfortunately did not advance though to the playoffs.

The next event for the team will be the Sutherland Mixed Doubles Curling Classic in Saskatoon, Canada, during February 7-9
 
IMAGE: © Team Gill/Hewitt Instagram

2018 Olympian Jackie Narracott has placed 15th in the opening World Cup skeleton event of the new year in Winterberg, Germany.
 
Narracott started strongly with her first run placing of 11th, but had the 18th fastest second run to move back in the ranking with a final position of 15th.
 
“Sometimes it's not your day and unfortunately today was that day”, Narracott commented after the race.
 
“Dropping four spots to 15th hurts a lot, but thankfully it's just mentally.
 
“Leaving Winterberg healthy with the knowledge there's more in the tank. On to La Plagne.”
 
Tina Hermann of Germany took the win in her home country, with Canadian Mirela Rahneva in second and Janine Flock of Austria in third.
 
The next stop on the World Cup circuit will be in La Plagne, France, with the women’s skeleton scheduled for January 10.

IMAGE: © rekords

The Australian women's bobsleigh team of pilot Bree Walker and breakwoman Stefanie Preiksa have  competed in their first World Cup events of the 2019-2020 season, finishing in 13th place in Winterberg, Germany.

For Walker it was the second World Cup start of her career, and Preiksa her debut at the highest level.

The team placed 13th in the two competition runs and finished in the same place overall.

"Thrilled to have my first World Cup under my belt", said Preiksa after the race.

"Racing is always fun, but racing with this team and support circle is next level."

"World Cup gives off some great vibes too!"

The next stop on the World Cup bobsleigh tour is in La Plagne, France, with an event scheduled for January 11.

Australia’s bobsleigh athletes have competed in the Europe Cup events in Königssee, Germany, with great success, highlighted by Bree Walker taking victory in the new Olympic sport of Monobob.
 
Walker tied for first place with Chinese athlete Qing Ying with both recording a time of 1:50.73 seconds after two runs down the Königssee track.
 
Also in action for Australia was Ashleigh Werner in a very strong fifth place, only .65 seconds outside the winners.
 
Both athletes also competed in the two woman bobsleigh event, with Walker and breakwoman Sarah Blizzard placing seventh, with Werner and her breakwoman Mikaela Sparre finishing 18th.
 
After the event, an elated Walker commented on the monobob event.
 
“Exciting times ahead for this new event in our sport!”

“Thank you so much to everyone who came out to support today! That Aussie hype was so high it was deafening on the line.”

Image © Bree Walker Instagram

OWIA Skeleton athlete Jackie Narracott has recorded another encouraging performance in the second event of the 2019/2020 season, with a ninth place World Cup result in Lake Placid, NY, USA.
 
The result comes after a 13th place finish a week earlier, also in Lake Placid, which hosted back to back events after the original opening World Cup scheduled for Park City, UT, USA, was moved due to mechanical issues with the Park City track.

Narracott now has four World Cup top-10 performances in her career, with her first also coming in Lake Placid, a seventh place finish in January 2016.
 
After the race, Narracott reflected on her strong start to the season.
 
“Heading into the Christmas break sitting tenth in the world after finishing ninth yesterday.
“Pretty stocked to have finally cracked the top ten.“
 
Narracott will now have a break from competition for a few weeks, before resuming the World Cup tour in Winterberg, Germany, on January 5.

Image © IBSF/rekords

2018 Olympian Jackie Narracott has made a strong return to World Cup competition in Lake Placid, USA, placing 13th in her first World Cup since early January 2019.

The opening World Cup event of the season was originally scheduled to take place in Park City, Utah, USA, but was moved to Lake Placid, which was already scheduled to host the second World Cup, due to mechanical issues with the Park City track.

Narracott was in 18th place after the first run, but was the big improved in the second run, with the sixth fastest time to giver her the overall two run ranking of 13th.

An excited Narracott commented after the race.

"Happy little Vegemite after yesterday's race. Finished 13th with the 6th fastest run of run 2. Best part, I'm healthy. After last year and the beginning of this week that's the most important thing. It's so nice to be back."

In the men's event, Nicholas Timmings finished in 21st place.

The skeleton athletes will be back in action again in Lake Placid on December 13.

Image © IBSF/rekords

Olympians Brendan Kerry and Kailani Craine have continued to extend their impressive list of national titles, after both claimed victory at the Australian Figure Skating Championships at the O’Brien Icehouse in Melbourne.

The two skaters have had an impressive decade as Australia's leading Figure Skating athletes, highlighted by two Olympic Games appearances for Kerry, with Craine becoming an Olympian for the first time in 2018.
 
Kerry took out his eighth national title in impressive fashion, scoring 216.11 points, to finish ahead of James Min and Damian Kaptich.

In the Senior Ladies, Craine won her sixth national title, with a comprehensive win ahead of Yancey Chan and Ashley Colliver.
 
Holly Harris and Jason Chan won their first national Senior Ice Dance title, finishing ahead of last years winners Chantelle Kerry & Andrew Dodds in second, with Matilda Friend and William Badaoui rounding out the podium in third.
 
Unfortunately Pairs skaters Harley Windsor and Ekaterina "Katya" Alexandrovskaya were unable to compete, due to an injury sustained by Alexandrovskaya in training prior to the competition.

The event was a great showcase of Australian Figure Skating, with strong participation and crowds over the week at the O'Brien Icehouse facility.
 
Podium Images ©  Michael Santer Photography

Figure Skating Pair Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya and Harley Windsor have competed in the ISU GP Skate America event in Las Vegas, USA.

In the short program, they scored 55.06 points to sit in sixth place after the first round.

The pair moved back one place in the free skate, scoring 97.88 points, to finish the event in seventh place overall, from a field of eight pairs.

The event was one by the Chinese pair of Peng Cheng and Jin Yang, with Daria Pavliuchenko and Denis Khodykin from Russia in second and American's Haven Denney and Brandon Frazier in third.

PyeongChang 2018 Olympian's Brendan Kerry and Kailani Craine headline the Australian team competing at the 2019 ISU Figure Skating Championships to be held in Saitama City, Japan, this week.

Kerry is full of confidence following a ninth place result at the recent Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, where he achieved personal best scores and landed a total of three quads in the short and free program.

Also competing for Australia will be the Ice Dance team of Chantelle Kerry and Andrew Dodds.

Schedule

Wednesday, March 20
Pairs - Short Program
Ladies - Short Program

Thursday, March 21
Pairs - Free Skating
Men - Short Program

Friday, March 22
Ice Dance - Rhythm Dance
Ladies - Free Skating

Saturday, March 23
Ice Dance - Free Dance
Men - Free Skating

Sunday, March 24
Gala Exhibition

IMAGE - Brendan Kerry at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championship last month in Anaheim, CA, USA © Brendan Kerry Instagram