At the ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Championships in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, 2022 Olympian Brendan Corey created history, becoming the first ever Australian to win an individual medal with a bronze medal in the 1500 metre distance. Previously Australia had medalled at the World Championships in the men’s relay event - which featured Olympic gold medallist Steven Bradbury and Jim Lynch in the 500m, but never in the 1500m individual distance. Making the performance even more incredible, is that Corey trains and competes as an individual against a multiple of powerful European, North American and Asian nations that each have large full time national team programs. Finishing ahead of Corey on the podium was Long Sun of China in first place, with Dutch skater Jens van't Wout in second. Corey also competed in the 500m placing 12th and in the 1000m was 15th. “I’ve never experienced anything like this,” said the 2022 Olympian. “I felt confident before the race because I know I’m strong right now. I’ve been working hard all year, and everything has accumulated.” “I just went out there and tried to stay relaxed. I blocked everything out except the race. “I have no idea when Australia last won a medal at the World Championships. It means so much. I hope it gives more recognition to speed skating in Australia, and I hope it inspired the future generation. "The atmosphere is crazy. Incredible. It is an amazing place to race.” Also in action for Australia was Hyo Jin Kim, finishing 32nd in the 500m, 41st in the 1000m and 18th in the 1500m. |
Three-time Olympian Alex Ferlazzo has wrapped up a highly successful career best season, with a 15th place finish at the final FIL World Cup event of the season in Sigulda, Latvia.
Competing in Sigulda for the second straight week of World Cup competition, first up for Ferlazzo was the Nation's Cup event, where he qualified for the World Cup after finishing in seventh place. In the World Cup event, Ferlazzo had the 15th fastest run in the opening round with a time of 48.330 seconds, and then went even faster in the final run, with the seventh fastest time of the round in 47.854 seconds. His two-run time of 1:36.184 seconds gave him a final ranking of 15th, 1.015 seconds behind event winner Kristers Aparjods of Latvia competing on his home track. Ferlazzo finished the season ranked a personal best 14th on the standings, the best end of year ranking by an Australian. A number of other records were also broken over the season, including:
2022 Olympian Louis Muhlen-Schulte has created history, becoming the first Australian male to finish in the top-30 in a World Cup giant slalom race and secure World Cup points after placing 27th in Aspen, USA.
Three Australian alpine ski racers have now advanced to the top-30 second run in the technical events (slalom and giant slalom) this season, with Madi Hoffman 25th in Slalom at Levi, Finland, in November, and Harry Laidlaw qualifying for the second run in 24th place at Bankso, Bulgaria, in mid-February, but unfortunately crashed out in the final sector of the course in the second run recording a "DNF". Harry Laidlaw was also close to the top-30 in the Aspen race, just missing in 33rd place, with world number one Marco Odermatt of Switzerland claiming victory. In the second giant slalom event in Aspen, Muhlen-Schulte almost made it back-to-back top 30's, finishing in 32nd place. Unfortunately Harry Laidlaw was unable to finish his first run. Marco Odermatt also won on day two, making it an incredible twelve straight giant slalom World Cup wins for the Swiss star. "It's definitely pretty cool to make history for Australia," said the 25-year-old Muhlen-Schulte from Melbourne. "I hope though that it's just the start and between Harry, myself and all the other Aussies we can really start to put Australia on the map in the world of skiing!" "I honestly had no idea how many guys were going out first run, I tend to just stick to my game plan and focus on that. So I was pretty surprised, I guess I had a good game plan coming into it." "It's honestly super cool, watching Madi crush it on the woman's side and then Harry and I starting to put things together on then men's side it's awesome to be a part of and show the world of skiing what Australia can do. It's for sure a long way from where we all started racing Australian championships and small races, but I think it shows how if you stick to your goals and work hard it doesn't matter where you start!" The next World Cup for Muhlen-Schulte and Laidlaw will be the giant slalom in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, on March 9. Bobsleigh pilot Bree Walker and brakewoman Kiara Reddingius have achieved the best ever result for Australia in the two-woman or two-man event at an IBSF World Championships, with a remarkable fifth place finish in Winterberg, Germany.
The performance is the second top-5 for Walker at the World Championships, after the 31 year old finished in fourth place in the monobob last weekend. The result smashes her previous best 14th place finish, in her only other two-woman World Championship start in 2020. Walker and Reddingius put down four competitive runs over two days of racing on the Winterberg track, to finish in a total time of 3:45.43 seconds, 1.44 seconds behind the eventual winner. It was a German clean sweep of the podium on their home track, with Team Buckwitz winning gold, ahead of Team Nolte in silver and Team Kalicki with the bronze. "The week was really good, training went well and we changed our sled setup and it just fit perfectly", said Walker. "After the monobob I just had to reset and go again, and I could sense that Kiara was really excited for this week, and training was going well so we took that energy into the race and I am so happy with the result here. We were really consistent in our pushing at the start, and also in my driving, so I am over the moon." "It was a whirlwind when we first started sliding together, and we jelled really quickly. From that point on we knew we could be a good team, it was just a matter of time doing more training and racing together." I always knew I could be competitive in the two-woman as well as the monobob, I just needed to find my girl to help me do that, and I feel Kiarra is as competitive as I am, and it's so exciting to have a teammate who believes that we can be competitive with the best in the world." Reddingius also commented after the race. "I am really proud of us this season, our aim was consistency and we have nailed that at nearly every single race, especially here over four heats, it shows we can stay up there with the best in the world." "This is our first season as a full team the whole time, so we will only go up from here." Also competing for Australia was Sarah Blizzard and Desi Johnson who finished in 21st place, in their first two-woman World Championship race together. The final round of World Cup competition will take place in Lake Placid, NY, USA on March 22-23. Walker is currently ranked fourth on the monobob standings, and could finish as high as second with a strong performance. Bree Walker has come agonisingly close to a medal at the IBSF World Championships in Winterberg, Germany, missing the podium by just 0.07 seconds.
The fourth place result matches her previous best finish at a World Championships, where she had the same result last year in St Moritz, Switzerland, which is again the best ever result by an Australian bobsleigh athlete at a World Championships. In the four run championship format, the QAS athlete performed well in her first three runs, highlighted by an exceptional third run where she had the second fastest run of the round. Heading into the final run ranked second overall, Walker unfortunately had a mistake halfway down the run which made it difficult to recover enough speed to make the podium, and registered the seventh fastest time of the final run. Walker finished with a four run combined time of 3:55.07 seconds, with the victory going to Laura Nolte of Germany in 3:54.77, Elana Meyers Taylor of the USA was second in 3:54.95 and German Lisa Buckwitz rounded out the podium in third with 3:55.00. Also in action for Australia making her World Championship debut was Sarah Blizzard, who finished in 23rd place. “It was a really tight race, and I knew it was going to be really tough and I was ready for that,” said the 31-year-old Olympian from Cairns. “We did absolutely everything possible and left nothing to chance, I know how to execute a medal winning performance, so I just had to go out and do that, and unfortunately I just missed it, it hasn’t quite set in, but I am pretty heartbroken.” “I made a mistake in that final run in a really important spot, and it cascaded down. You can’t make a mistake with these girls, everyone is driving so well and I ultimately paid the price and dropped to fourth.” “My team is amazing, my coach goes above and beyond and I can’t thank Pierre (Lueders) enough for everything that he is teaching me, he is doing such a fantastic job coaching and running our team, it’s so professional.” Next weekend sees the two-woman bobsleigh World Championship event take place at Winterberg on March 2-3, with Walker to be joined by brakewoman Kiara Reddingius. Sarah Blizzard will also be competing together with her brakewoman Desi Johnson. “We have the two-woman coming up, and I am excited to get in and get going with that. The goal is to execute a really good race, the last time I competed in that event at the World Championships was in 2020 in Altenberg at my first World Championships, so I am excited to get in the sled and do that with Kiara next week.” The men's World Cup tour has now moved to the USA, with Olympians Harry Laidlaw and Louis Muhlen-Schulte competing in the giant slalom event at the Palisades resort in Lake Tahoe.
In the first run, both skiers missed out on the top-30 to advance to the final run, Laidlaw was 36th and Muhlen-Schulte 47th. Marco Odermatt of Switzerland recorded the win, with Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway in second, and River Radamus of the USA in third. A double World Cup will take place next in Aspen on March 1 and 2. Alex Ferlazzo has recorded a new World Cup personal best, finishing in eighth place at the FIL World Cup event in Sigulda, Latvia.
The result improves on his previous best of tenth, which he recorded earlier in the season in Whistler, Canada. The three-time Olympian commenced his week in Sigulda by qualifying for the World Cup event in the Nation's Cup by finishing in fifth place. In the World Cup event, Ferlazzo had the 11th fastest time in the opening round in a time of 48.557 seconds, and then improved significantly in run two to have the sixth fastest time of the round, finishing in a time of 48.023 seconds. His two run time was 1:36.580 seconds, giving him a final ranking of eighth, 0.930 seconds behind event winner Felix Loch of Germany. A sprint World Cup also took place in Sigulda, with Ferlazzo finishing in 14th. Ferlazzo commented after his performance in Sigulda. “I am happy with my result today here is Sigulda. The circuit has never seen it built like this before, wide open transitions and glassy ice on the most technical demanding track made for some wild racing. “Eighth is my best World Cup result and even managed a PB down time! “Looking to knuckle down and make the most of these track conditions for the last race of the season!" A second World Cup will take place next weekend in Sigulda, the final event of the FIL World Cup season. Doug Crawford and Liam Michael have competed in the ski cross World Cup in Reiteralm, Austria, with a double event taking place.
In his final World Cup event of the season, Crawford was unable to make the top-32 man finals, finishing in 49th place and 54th after the qualifying time trial. Michael finished his qualifying runs in 50th and 51st place. The next Ski Cross World Cup will take place in Veysonnaz, Switzerland, on March 15-17. Brendan Corey has competed in the final ISU World Cup of the season in Gdansk, Poland, with his best finish coming in the 1000m, where he finished 14th int he quarter-final round.
The 2022 Olympian also competed in the 500m (1) event, finishing in 27th place. Also in action for Australia was Lucas Wareham in the 500m (2) in 33rd place, and 36th in the 1500m. The ISU World Championships are a month away in Seoul, Korea, from March 15-17. Three-time Olympian Alex Ferlazzo has competed in Oberhof, Germany for the second week of FIL World Cup action, improving to a 13th place finish.
Last week at the first World Cup on the German track, Ferlazzo finished in 22nd place in a race impacted by mild conditions and a deteriorating track which disadvantaged the athletes running later in the field. Ferlazzo first took part in the Nation's Cup qualifying event on Friday, where he advanced through in fourth place, securing an early starting position in the World Cup draw. In the first World Cup heat, Ferlazzo had the 13th fastest run before improving to the 12th fastest time in the second heat, and finished with a total time of 1:26.917, 0.884 seconds behind event winner Jonas Mueller of Austria. The top-15 finishers from the main event also qualified to take part in the sprint World Cup in Oberhof held the next day, with Ferlazzo finishing in 14th place. After the event Ferlazzo, reflected on his two weeks competing in Oberhof. "It's a bit of a different one compared to last week event. Last week the weather made the race so ridiculous, but this week the ice actually held up, and I took the opportunity to test some things in the first few training sessions, but today I just went back to what I knew, knowing the ice would be ok. "Overall I am happy with my race, the speed was missing a little bit here, but I always seem to struggle finding it on this track in particular, but I am sitting in 13th and happy to snag a top-15 position." "We have two World Cup events coming up on one of my favourite track in Latvia, I am really looking forward to it." Competing in the last event before the 2024 IBSF World Championships, Bree Walker has finished in seventh place in the monobob on the difficult track in Altenberg, Germany, which saw many of her rivals crash. In the first run Walker had mistakes, and finished in 1:01.43 seconds which was the ninth fastest time of the round. In the second run, Walker dramatically improved to have the fastest time in the field of 16, finishing in an impressive time of 1:00.55 seconds. Her two run combined time was 1:01.98, which put her 0.69 seconds behind event winner, 2022 Olympic two-woman bobsleigh champion Laura Nolte of Germany, with Elana Meyers-Taylor in second and another German, Lisa Buckwitz rounding out the podium in third place. Walker and brakewoman Kiara Reddingius elected not to compete in the two-woman, in order to prepare for the World Championships which commences next weekend in Winterberg, Germany, with monobob scheduled for February 24-25 and two-woman on March 1-2. With one World Cup monobob event remaining in the season on March 22 in Lake Placid, USA, Walker is in fourth place on the World Cup rankings with 1324 points, trailing American Kaysha Love in third place on 1332. German sliders are ranked first and second, with Buckwitz leading on 1468 points and Nolte second with 1355 points. “Altenberg can be a challenging place but I like a challenge so I went into last week ready for it,” said the 31-year-old Olympian from Queensland. “I had a good feeling about the race but unfortunately in the first heat I made a mistake in the straight-a-way (again) which cost me so much speed. In the second heat I fixed it to lay down the fastest run of the heat.” “Bittersweet as I know what my potential is in Altenberg but have to accept that is racing sometimes.” “I walk away still feeling positive and proud of how much I have improved here over the last two seasons and we go onto the next one.” Bree Walker pushing out of the start gate in Altenberg IMAGE - Viesturs Lacis Rekords 2022 Olympian Brendan Corey has competed in the ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup event in Dresden, Germany, with his best result coming in the 1000m (2) placing 14th.
Corey also competed in the 1500m event, but received a penalty in the quarterfinals ending his competition. Also competing for Australia in the men's event was Lucas Wareham who finished 46th in the 500m and 42nd in the 1000m (1). Corey commented on his Instagram account after the competition. "Not my greatest weekend of racing, time to go again smarter next week." The Short Track athletes will now travel to Gdansk, Poland, where the next World Cup will take place on February 16-18. The ISU World Championships are a month away in Seoul, Korea, from March 15-17. The Mixed Doubles Players Championship has taken place in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, with Beijing 2022 Olympians Dean Hewitt and Tahli Gill finishing in equal second place in their pool group stage, and only narrowly missing advancing to finals in a tie-break.
With twenty highly rated Curling teams taking part, the format was determined by four round robin pool matches with a finals series to follow for the best placed pairs. Gill and Hewitt finished with a record of two wins and two losses in the group stage, drawn in Pool D. Round Robin Matches Vs Powers/Saunders - Loss 4 to 6 Vs Spruit/Spruit - Win 9 to 1 Vs Sandham/Tuck - Loss 3 to 5 Vs Martin/Laycock - Win 9 to 4 The competition in Brantford also took place near the Toronto headquarters of long-term OWIA and Australian Olympic Team Uniform official uniform and apparel partner Schure Sports, the company behind Karbon, Gill and Hewitt had the opportunity to meet a senior member of the Karbon family in person. After the event Hewitt commented. "We had a great week training in Toronto last week. It was fantastic being able to meet and get to know Peter Schure from Karbon and Schure Sports. It’s so great having Karbon supporting us with uniforms to train and compete in, especially to keep us warm when it drops to -40 like it did a few weeks ago. "We finished the Players Championship at 2:2 which was just short of qualifying for playoffs." "We let two games slip in the final end that we usually wouldn’t so we’re learning from those and will come back stronger." "We’ve now got a week off before we get back into our last training block before we head to World Championships." IMAGE - Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt with Peter Schure from Schure Sports and Karbon PHOTO BY - Chris Hocking/OWIA
Australian alpine skier Harry Laidlaw has shown he can match it with the best, reaching the top-30 and second run in the World Cup giant slalom event in Bankso, Bulgaria, for the first time in his ski racing career.
Laidlaw finished the first run in impressive fashion to place 24th in a time of 1:12.99 seconds. In making the top-30 qualifying level, the 27yo earnt himself a second run in the event, becoming the first Australian male to achieve this feat at World Cup level in a giant slalom race. In the second run, Laidlaw showed great technical skill and speed and appeared set to be the first Australian to claim World Cup ranking points in the giant slalom, but unfortunately crashed out in the final sector of the course. “Whenever I push out of the start gate, I push to be competitive and this culture has been ingrained in us within this special team at Global Racing” said the 2018 Olympian. “It hurts not putting two runs together but proud to have pushed the way I did.” “More to come and grateful to be racing.” 2022 Olympian Louis Muhlen-Schulte finished in 41st place, his best ever World Cup finish in a giant slalom.
Bobsleigh pilot Bree Walker and brakewoman Kiara Reddingius have taken part in a triple World Cup event in Sigulda, Latvia, with the difficult track causing havoc for many of the teams and sleds from all countries.
First up was a two-woman race, with Walker and Reddingius achieving their best result of the weekend in fifth place, just 0.67 seconds behind the event winners Kim Kalicki and Leonie Fiebig of Germany. On day two Walker competed in the monobob, finishing in ninth, 1.15 second behind German pilot Lisa Buckwitz in first place. The third and final day featured another two-woman World Cup, with Walker and Reddingius finishing the first run in seventh. Unfortunately in the second run, the pair had a fall in the bottom section of the Sigulda track, causing the sled to slide across the line on its side, putting them in 13th place. The next World Cup will take place in Altenberg, Germany, on February 17-18. Three-time Olympian Alex Ferlazzo has created history at the FIL World Championships in Altenberg, Germany, recording Australia's best Luge result with an impressive fifth place finish.
The result is a breakthrough performance, improving on his previous personal best of tenth place achieved in World Cup competition earlier this season. In run one Ferlazzo had the seventh fastest first run in 54.338 seconds, and in the second and final run finished in 54.440 which was the sixth fastest of all sliders. His two-run time came to 1:48.805 seconds, placing him fifth fastest of all competitors, 0.992 seconds behind event winner Max Langenhan of Germany on 1:47.813, with Austrian Nico Gleirscher of Austria in second with Felix Loch, another German in third. A thrilled Ferlazzo reflected on his PB and historic result. "Fifth at Worlds, my best result by far!" "The two weeks of training leading up to the race were horrendous to say the least. I honestly believe the support from family who made the journey over is what pulled me through." "It’s incredible to see all the hard work paying off." The luge athletes remain in Altenberg for a World Cup event next weekend. Australia's leading alpine snowboarder Millie Bongiorno has had a good week, with a near PB in the parallel giant slalom World Cup over the weekend in Simonhöhe, Austria, and a European Cup podium earlier in the week in Pamporovo, Bulgaria.
At the World Cup, Bongiorno finished in 25th place in the qualification round, missing out on the top-16 finals. Her final ranking of 25th is just behind her previous best personal best of 24th in the parallel giant slalom from last season. In the men's event Harvey Edmanson was 42nd. The pair also competed in a team event in Simonhöhe and placed 23rd. Earlier in the week in the European Cup parallel slalom event in Pamporovo, Bongiorno had a podium performance finishing in third. On day two in Lillehammer Bree Walker teamed up with brakewoman Kiara Reddingius in the two-woman event, with the pair finishing in fifth place, the third time they have finished in the top-5 this season.
In the first run the pair finished with the fifth fastest time in 51.99 seconds, and improved in run number two to be the fourth fastest sled down the track in 52.15. Their two-run combined time was 1:44.14 seconds, finishing 0.52 behind event winner Kim Kalicki and Leonie Fiebig of Germany. After four events, the Aussie pair are currently ranked fifth on the IBSF World Cup standings in the two-woman. Next weekend features a double World Cup event in the two-woman and single event in the monobob in Sigulda, Latvia. Bobsleigh pilot Walker has returned in style to the Olympic track in Lillehammer, Norway, with a silver medal performance in the monobob, her first competition in Lillehammer since November 2019 when she was competing on the Europe Cup circuit.
The podium finish is the fourth straight medal for the QAS bobsleigh pilot, who has finished in the top-five in every World Cup event this season. In the first run Walker was tied with Cynthia Appiah of Canada for the second fastest time of the round in 54.41 seconds, and in the second run had the third fastest time completing the run in 54.53 seconds. Her two-run combined time of 1:48.94 was 0.42 seconds behind event winner Kaysha Love of the USA, with 2018 Olympic gold medallist Lisa Buckwitz of Germany .01 behind Walker in third. After five World Cup events this season, Walker is ranked equal second on the standings on 1004 points along with Love, with Buckwitz leading the pair on 1043 points. “It's been really fun here this week, I haven't slid here since 2019, and I actually couldn't remember the track last week when we came here for training ahead of the World Cup,” said the 31-year-old Olympian from Queensland. “My coach Pierre Lueders and I both had to relearn it together as he hasn't slid here since 1998, so it was a fast learning curve for both of us.” Alpine skiing Olympians Louis Muhlen-Schulte and Harry Laidlaw both competed in the Schladming World Cup giant slalom under lights in Austria last week.
Muhlen-Schulte was the only finisher, crossing the line in a time of 1:08.36 seconds in 53rd position missing out on advancing to the top-30 second run. Harry Laidlaw unfortunately did not get through the course when after making a promising start in the top section, his ski released later during his run. Over the past week Madi Hoffman has had three World Cup starts in two different countries, with her best result coming the giant slalom in Jasna, Slovakia.
First up was the night slalom event in Flachau, Austria, with Hoffman recording a did not finish in the first run. Next the women's tour moved to Jasna, Slovakia, for a double event weekend featuring giant slalom and slalom. In the giant slalom, Hoffman finished in 51st place and in the slalom did not finish her first run. Legendary US skier Mikael Shiffrin further extended her record for most ever wins by an alpine skier, with victories in both slalom events taking her career total to 95 victories, with Sara Hector winning the giant slalom. This week Olympians Harry Laidlaw and Louis Muhlen-Schulte will be competing in the World Cup giant slalom in Schladming, Austria, with the event to take place on January 23. Unfortunately three time Olympian Greta Small is set for a stint on the sidelines after injuring her arm last week. Leading alpine snowboarder Millie Bongiorno has taken part in a double parallel slalom World Cup in the Bulgarian resort of Pamporovo, setting a new personal best performance.
On day one Bongiorno finished in 22nd place, and then on day two improved again to finish in 18th, improving her previous best by one place, which she achieved 12 months earlier in Bulgaria in Bankso. Winning both events was legendary Czech Republic athlete Ester Ledecka, who has famously won two alpine snowboard Olympic gold medals, together with her stunning gold medal in the alpine skiing super-g event at Pyeongchang, which shocked the world by winning the two gold medals in separate sports at a single Olympic Games. In the men's event Harvey Edmanson finished 44th on day one and 37th on day two. |
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