Australia’s first ever Olympic Winter Games medallist in skeleton, Jackie Narracott, has announced her retirement from competition.

In a historic career which included representing Australia at two Olympic Winter Games, Narracott will be remembered for winning Australia’s first ever sliding sports World Cup gold medal in January 2022 in St Mortiz, and a few weeks later claiming another Australian first, with the silver medal at the Beijing Olympic Winter Games.

Hailing from Brisbane, Narracott’s Olympic dream came from stories about her uncle Paul Narracott who was the first Australian to compete at both a Summer and Winter Olympic Games. He ran in the men’s 100m and 200m at the Los Angeles Games in 1984 before participating in the two-man bobsleigh at Albertville 1992.

Narracott took her first ride on a skeleton sled in 2011 and quickly made her skeleton World Cup skeleton debut at the end of 2014. 34 years after her uncle’s debut, Narracott made her own Olympic dreams come true as she represented Australia in the 2018 winter games in Pyeongchang, finishing in 16th place.

In an incredible performance turnaround in mid-January 2022, Narracott broke though for her first medal and World Cup win at St Moritz in Switzerland. This smashed Narracott’s previous personal best World Cup finish of seventh place, achieved in 2016,

In less than one month after St Moritz, Narracott attended her second Olympic Winter Games in Beijing and made sporting history with an almost faultless silver-medal on the biggest stage of all against the world’s best. Narracott showed nerves of steel over two days and four runs of competition in a remarkable performance to secure Australia’s fourth and final medal at its most successful Winter Games so far.

The 33-year-old who had battled injury in recent times, reflected on her outstanding 13-year-career in the sport.
“I am retiring from skeleton, the last 12-18 months have been a journey to get from winning the medal in Beijing, to then taking the year off and having knee surgery at the beginning of the year, the rehab from that confirmed that I don’t have the mental or emotional capability reserves to do this again.

“As much as I would ideally love a World Championship medal, and particularly with this year’s one being in Lake Placid on my learning track, I can’t do it. To compete with the girls who are the best in the world, I know what I would have to put myself through and that is another Olympic season, and there’s nothing left.

“The end of an era, and the end of me being an athlete, and that’s a hard transition to make, when in my head I have been an athlete since I was nine. All I ever wanted to be was an Olympian, so to get there twice I am very proud of that, and to medal is phenomenal and well beyond anything I thought I would ever get when I first started.

“To everyone who has been a part of my journey from when I was nine and just starting though to the last couple of years, thank you. There is no way I would be sitting here with my achievements without your help.

“It’s been long, it’s been fun, I hope I am not the last, I want my achievements to ensure the next generation to go and shoot for their dreams. Just because we come from a small nation without a track, it doesn’t mean it’s not possible.”

Newly appointed Chef de Mission for the Australian Team to compete at the Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games - Alisa Camplin-Warner AM Quotes
“The end of an extraordinary career, what Jackie achieved in Beijing was just phenomenal, the preparation that she put in to peak at that exact moment is something she and Australia will never forget, and I am sure she will enjoy finding her next thing in life she wants to apply herself to.

“She is a remarkable human and extraordinary athlete, and has such a deep understanding about what it takes to succeed, particularly in sliding sports. With the QAS supporting our Bobsleigh and winter sliding athletes, it’s just fantastic she’s going into the system now to support the next generation to help pay it forward.”

Australian Olympic Committee President - Ian Chesterman Quotes
“Jackie is one of the athletes that I admired most during my time working in sport and with teams. She went on to win that incredible silver medal, but she did it for years and years on the smell of an oily rag, she had to maintain her own motivation and desires.

“She got herself in the right form at the right time, so that was a fantastic reward for her for what was a long career of striving almost solo on that woman’s skeleton tour to produce that end result and that success, and I can only wish her the very best.

“I am delighted she will remain in the sports system, she has a lot to give and others will really learn from her and understand her empathy of having to do it really tough and yet still have the perseverance and resilience to get though and ultimately succeed.”

OWIA CEO – Geoff Lipshut Quotes
“Jackie’s is a remarkable story or perseverance and determination; she found a way to do her sport all over the world with limited support over eight years and then in the space of one month in 2022 capped her career with her maiden World Cup win and an Olympic silver medal.

“Jackie’s efforts over many years are a credit to herself and family and the OWIA (Olympic Winter Institute of Australia) together with our partner QAS (Queensland Academy of Sport) are very proud to have helped Jackie be an Australian winter sport trailblazer.”

Images - Credit IBSF/ Viesturs Lacis Rekords

Over the weekend Australia's leading alpine ski racers competed in various National Championship FIS events.

Madi Hoffman had a gold (slalom) and a bronze medal (giant slalom) at the USA National Championships in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Louis Muhlen-Schulte competed in the Italian National Junior Championships in Kronplatz, with a silver medal in the first slalom event and an eighth-place finish in another slalom event the following day.

Harry Laidlaw was fifth in the National Championships giant slalom event at Malbun in Lichtenstein.

Australia has competed at the 2024 ISU Figure Skating World Championships in Montreal, Canada, with Hektor Giotopoulos Moore and Anastasiia Golubeva competing in the pairs and Holly Harris and Jason Chan in the ice dance event.

In the pairs event, Giotopoulos Moore and Golubeva finished in tenth place, just falling short of their eighth place performance at last year's event.

In the opening short program, they scored 63.75 points to put them in eleventh place. The pair then improved in the free skate, with the ninth best score of the round with 119.36 points.

The combined total score came to 182.71 points and a final ranking of tenth.

In the ice dance event, Harris and Chan scored 71.44 in their opening rhythm dance, their highest score of the season, putting them in 16th place.

The ice dance couple then had the 19th ranked score in the free dance of 103.34 points, giving them a combined total of 174.78 points and a final ranking of 17th.

Bobsleigh pilot Bree Walker has finished the monobob season in the best possible way, recording Australia’s first ever bobsleigh World Cup gold medal in Lake Placid, USA, giving Walker her fifth World Cup medal of the season and a career best end of season ranking.

Walker started with an incredible first run, setting a new track record for Lake Placid in 59.22 seconds, which was well over a second faster than the old record.

In the final run, Walker was the final competitor of the event as the leader from the first round, and performed superbly under pressure to again record the fastest time in 59.45 seconds, to secure her first ever World Cup victory with a two-run time of 1:58.67 seconds.

American Elana Meyers Taylor on her home track finished second 0.24 seconds behind Walker, with Cynthia Appiah of Canada 0.46 seconds back in third.

“It feels amazing, I came into this week knowing that I can be competitive and to come away with a win is the best possible way I could end the monobob season, I am so happy” said the 31-year-old Olympian from Queensland.

“Heading into the second run I knew I had to execute what I did in the first run. When I crossed the line I couldn’t even see the time or know where I had finished, but I knew it was a good run and I would be in the medals, but even better that it’s the win.”

The victory also saw Walker move into second place on the final World Cup monobob standings with 1549 points, her best end of season ranking.

First on the standings was 2024 World Champion Lisa Buckwitz of Germany on 1644 points with her teammate and 2022 Olympic gold medallist Laura Nolte in third on 1547.

The final World Cup event of the season takes place in Lake Placid tomorrow, where brakewoman Kiarra Reddingius will join Walker in the two-woman event.

Lake Placid will host the 2025 Bobsleigh World Championships next year ahead of the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics, now less than two years away.

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:

• Australia's best ever finish at the FIL Luge World Championships, with an almost unbelievable fifth place in Altenberg.
  
• Australia's best ever finish at a World Cup event, finishing in eighth place in last week's World Cup in Sigulda.
  

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.