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