Bree Walker has created history recording Australia's best ever sliding sports performance at an IBSF World Championships, narrowly missing the podium in fourth place in the monobob event in St Moritz, Switzerland.

Competing on the spectacular hand cut ice on the natural St Moritz track, the QAS athlete put down four great runs to finish just two tenths of a second shy of the podium.

The combined total time for Walker's four runs was 4:45.77, which had her finish 0.92 seconds behind event winner Laura Nolte of Germany, with American Kaillie Humphries in second and Lisa Buckwitz of Germany in third.

"The week was really great, we had really good training figuring out the track because it changes a little bit each year," said the 2022 Olympian.

"We had a really good plan with lot's of help from the OWIA and my team, which all came together quite well so I felt very prepared for the race on the weekend."

"With the longer four run format, you have to just take it run by run, I was happy with how I executed each run.

"I had a plan with my coach and my team, and we really stuck to that plan and I am happy with how it ended up and the results at the end of the day."

Three-time Olympian Alex Ferlazzo has competed at the 2023 FIL World Championships in Oberhof, Germany, taking part in the sprint and singles events.

Ferlazzo made a strong start to the event, qualifying for the 15-man sprint final in 13th place.

In the sprint final, Ferlazzo finished in 14th place in a time of 34.137 seconds, just 0.593 seconds behind Felix Loch of Germany in first place. 

The result was a personal best finish for Ferlazzo at the World Championships, with his previous best being a 24th in Innsbruck, Austria, in 2017.

In the singles event, Ferlazzo was having a solid run sitting in 13th place at the midway point of his run, but unfortunately crashed shortly after, sliding across the line in 29th place which ended his competition.

Jackie Narracott has achieved her best ever performance at an IBSF World Championships, finishing in 11th place in St Moritz, Switzerland.

Competing in the four run major championship format, Narracott's first two runs were her best, with both runs ranked the 10th fastest overall.

Unfortunately Narracott slipped back with the 14th fastest run 3, and 13th fastest run 4, giving her a four run total time of 4:36.60 seconds, 3.03 seconds behind event winner Susanne Kreher of Germany.

The 2022 Olympic silver medallist commented after the event.

“Not quite what I was intending on doing, but it’s my best result, a couple of skids and it could have been a different story."
 
“It’s hard to have a hard time sliding down this track, even when you are sideways.”
 
“It’s always great to have my family here, they obviously weren’t in Beijing or here last year, so to have them here this year is really special.”
 
Narracott also competed in the mixed teams skeleton competition, joining fellow countryman Peter Makrides, with the duo finishing 15th.

Image: Jackie Narracott flying out of the start in St Moritz © OWIA/Chris Hocking

Harry Laidlaw has recorded a personal best World Cup performance in Schladming, Austria, finishing in 37th place in the giant slalom event,

The result improves on his previous best finish of 39th place at the World Cup in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, back in March 2022.

Competing under a huge crowd at night at the Austrian resort, the 2018 Olympian finished in a time of 1:12.64, 3.59 seconds behind Swiss skier Loic Meillard who went on to win the event.

Louis Muhlen-Schulte was also in action at Schladming, competing in the slalom event where he finished in 48th place in the first run.

The alpine skiing athletes will now prepare for the upcoming World Championships in Courchevel-Meribel, France, which will take place from February 6-19

VIS snowboarder Millie Bongiorno has recorded a personal best World Cup result of 19th in the parallel slalom event in Bansko, Bulgaria.

In a double event at the Bulgarian resort, Bongiorno finished in 24th place on day one, and improved to finish in 19th on day two, just missing out on the top-16 head-to-head- finals racing.

After the event Bongiorno reported:

"I am so excited to have achieved my best World Cup result so far with a 19th place!"

"This race here in Bansko, Bulgaria, was one of the most challenging I have ever faced. We experienced heavy rain and snow in the days leading up to the race and on race day, and it was an incredibly technical slope and course set."

"I had a lot of mistakes on day 1, crashing on the first run, and finishing in 24th place. I was angry about the crash but rather than getting stuck in my head about it I channeled all that energy into the second day of racing. I was so fired up in the start gate, just bursting with energy, but also laser focused on what my goal was and what I had to do. My first run was a little messy but my second run alone was the 16th fastest time!"

"From missing all of preseason from sickness - to coming straight back into a World Cup, with limited time on snow, and being so close to the finals has got me so fired up about the next races. With some more time on snow under my belt I know I’m capable of even stronger results, and I cannot wait to get stuck into it."

Bongiorno will now continue her preparation ahead of the FIS Snowboard & Freestyle World Championships which will take place in Bakuriani, Georgia, where she will compete in the parallel giant slalom on  February 19 and the parallel slalom on February 21.

Bree Walker will head into next weekends World Championships with confidence, after taking home her first monobob World Cup podium of the season in Altenberg, Germany.The QAS athlete had two consistent runs, finishing the first run in third place with a time of 1:00.92 seconds.

On run number two, Walker had a time of 1:00.97, the fourth fastest run of the round, which gave her a two-run time of 2:01.89 in third overall, 1.28 seconds behind event winner Kaillie Humphries of the USA, with German Laura Nolte in second.
Walker was delighted with the medal performance after her second run, and her best ever result on the Altenberg track, which had caused her trouble in previous years.

"This one is special", said the 2022 Olympian.

"It’s been one hell of a journey to get to a podium at an Altenberg World Cup and I’m grateful for it."

Walker will compete in St Moritz, Switzerland, in the World Championship monobob event on January 28-29, and will join brakewoman Sarah Blizzard in the two-woman the following week on February 3-4.

Australian alpine skiers Greta Small and Louis Muhlen-Schulte have competed in World Cup events over the weekend with Small in action in Cortina d' Amprezzo, Italy, and Muhlen-Schulte at the iconic Kitzbuhel event in Austria.

NSWIS skier Small took part in three speed events in Cortina, finishing in 46th place in the first downhill event, a seasons best 37th in the second downhill, and 46th in the super-g.

In front of a huge crowd in Kitzbuhel, Muhlen-Schulte finished in 43rd place in the first run of the slalom.

Muhlen-Schulte will now compete in Schladming, Austria, in the World Cup slalom event on January 24.

Bree Walker has achieved her third straight top-5 performance to open her World Cup season in Altenberg, Germany.

Competing in the monobob event, Walker was consistent with the fifth fastest first run and sixth fastest second run, giving her a combined two-run time of 1:59.25 which put her in fifth place overall.

Taking the win was American Kaillie Humphries with a two run time of 1:57.92, with Laura Nolte of Germany 0.55 seconds behind in second place, with Canadian Cynthia Appiah in third 0.94 seconds behind the winner.

The result is her best ever finish on the Altenberg track in a World Cup or World Championship start.

"This track has sure challenged me in the past, so I’m happy to take the small wins I have here this season", said the 2022 QAS Olympian.

"More to come with another opportunity next week to learn and grow as we stay in Altenberg for another World Cup."

The second monobob World Cup in Altenberg will take place on January 21, with Walker back with brakewoman Sarah Blizzard in the two-woman event on January 22.

Sarah Blizzard has recorded Australia's best ever result at an International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation Junior World Championships with a fourth place finish in the monobob in Winterberg, Germany.

Blizzard made a great start, with the second fastest time in run one with a time of 1:00.15 seconds. In her second run she finished in a time of 1:01.17 seconds, giving her a two-run combined time of 2:01.32 in fourth place, just missing the podium by 0.11 seconds, and 1.48 seconds behind event winner Maureen Zimmer of Germany.

To come away with Australia’s best ever result in this event in only my first year of driving is definitely something I’m proud of," said Blizzard.

"Thank you to all those who made this happen, you know who you are."

Blizzard will now rejoin Bree Walker in the two-woman bobsleigh World Cup in Altenberg next weekend.

Three-time Olympian Alex Ferlazzo has taken part in the second week of World Cup competition in Sigulda, Latvia, with a 13th place finish.

The result is an improvement from the previous week on the same course, where he placed 26th after crashing on his first run.

Ferlazzo made a great start in this event, recording an impressive eighth fastest first run with a time of 49.021 seconds.
His second run was ranked 18th for the round in a time of 49.331, giving him a two run combined time of 1:38.352, 0.764 seconds behind event winner Max Langenhan of Germany.

Just prior to the World Cup event, Ferlazzo also created history as the first Australian to win a luge Nation's Cup event, which was also the second Nation's Cup podium of his career.

Ferlazzo has now taken the lead in the overall ranking of the Nations Cup after five of nine races.

Jackie Narracott has taken part in her first event of 2023, with a 13th place finish in Altenberg, Austria.

The result is a PB finish for Naracott on the difficult Altenberg track, improving on her previous best of 15th in 2021 and 2019.

After recording the 18th fastest time in run one completing the track in 59.88 seconds, the three-time QAS Olympian improved in un two to record the 11th fastest time of the round in 59.24 seconds.

Narracott's two run combined time of 1:59.12 put her in 13th place, 2.89 seconds behind event winner Tina Hermann of Germany.

The skeleton athletes will be back in action next weekend for an extra event in Altenberg on January 20.

Competing in her first World Cup events of the season, Bree Walker has made an impressive start with top-five finishes in both the monobob and two-woman events in Winterberg, Germany.

Whilst the World Cup tour commenced in North America, Walker had elected to base herself in Europe to start her Northern Winter campaign, competing on the European Cup circuit, winning gold in her three event starts.

Joining Walker in the two-woman was brakewoman Sarah Blizzard, who has also been focusing on monobob racing to start the northern winter, with the pair having limited time in the sled together ahead of this week's World Cup competition.

The pair made a great start with the fifth fastest time on the Winterberg track, just 0.63 seconds behind first place.

In the second run they had the ninth fastest time, just .02 seconds off their first run time, with a time run time of 1:55.04, 1.30 seconds behind first place in fifth overall, two places better than Walker's previous best result of seventh with brakewoman Kiara Reddingius on the same track in November 2021.

German sleds took out all of the places on the podium on their home track, with Nolte/Schuten in first place, Buckwitz/Lipperheide in second and Kalicki/Fiebig in third.

"We are over the moon with the fifth place" said Walker the 2022 Olympian.

"It was our first runs in two-man together this week, so we really didn’t know what to expect. To achieve Australia’s best two-man result today is just a great feeling."

"This result has been a long time coming for Sarah and I, we have been sliding together for many years now and finally it all came together today. Very happy and proud to get this result with her."

"We have been through thick and thin together, so it’s the best feeling to start this two-man season on a high. More to come for sure."

Earlier in Winterberg, Walker narrowly missed the podium by just 0.07 seconds in the monobob.

In such close racing, a small mistake in the middle section in the first run was to keep her off the podium, with the QAS athlete finishing in fifth, 0.26 seconds behind event winner Laura Nolte of Germany.

"Would of loved to be back on the podium in the monobob, but it wasn’t meant to be this weekend.

"We will build on this fifth place over the next few weeks, my new coach and I have been trying out a few new things so it’s just a matter of piecing the puzzle together."

Walker and Blizzard will now head to Altenberg, for the next round of the World Cup tour, with 2022 Olympic Silver Medallist Jackie Narracott competing in the skeleton.

2022 Olympians Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt have competed in the MadTown DoubleDown mixed teams curling competition in Madison, Wisconsin, USA, with 24 teams from four nations in attendance.

Gill (QAS) and Hewitt (VIS) finished with a record of two wins and three losses for the event, making a strong start comfortably winning their first two matches, but unfortunately lost their next three games in close results, and were not advanced to the final round.

The event was won by Japanese Team of Matsumura/Tanida, who defeated Canadians Walker/Muyres in the gold medal match with a score of 7-2.

Tahli Gill will now head to Lake Placid, USA, for the World University Games, which will run from January 13-21.

After the event, Dean Hewitt commented:

"It was our first time competing at the Madtown Doubledown in Madison, Wisconsin."

"What an incredible event it was with a stacked field, yet one of the most social events on the calendar. The atmosphere was one of the best we’ve ever played at."

"We started off strong with two wins and had three very tight battles against athletes from the 2018 Men’s Olympic Gold Medal Team, all coming down to the last shot."

"Despite falling just short of the playoffs, there are a lot of positives going forward and we’re looking forward to our longest uninterrupted block of training we’ve ever had coming up in Canada.

"I’m looking forward to watching Tahli and her team compete at the upcoming World University Games in Lake Placid."

IMAGES: Joel Underwood & David Surber

Harry Laidlaw and Louis Muhlen-Schulte have returned to competition, taking part in the first FIS Alpine World Cup events of 2023.

Muhlen-Schulte was the first to compete, racing in a slalom event on January 4 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, finishing in 51st place, missing out on the top-30 to compete in the final run.

At the World Cup event over the weekend in n Adelboden, Switzerland, Laidlaw was first up in the giant slalom, with the 2018 Olympian finishing in 41st.

In the slalom in Adelboden, Muhlen-Schulte recorded a did not finish on the first run.

Thee time Olympian Greta Small will compete in her first World Cup events of 2023 in St Anton, Austria, with a downhill and super-g to take place next weekend.

Alex Ferlazzo has headed to Latvia for the first Luge World Cup event of 2023, finishing in 26th place.

Competing on the Sigulda track, the three-time Olympian was heading for a good first run and was ranked 12th halfway down, but unfortunately had a crash shortly after, putting him in 26th place.

Ferlazzo recovered well in his second run, with the 16th fastest time of the round, but was unable to improve his overall ranking.

The luge athletes will remain in Latvia for another week, with a second World Cup event to take place in Sigulda on January 14-15.