Christmas Break

Having missed most of the Christmas break last season due to a GB race off for World Cup positions, it was great to be home for a longer period this time round.

I apologise for the lack of updates on the blog, it’s just that when I go back home, it’s important to be able to switch off from skeleton so that I come back to the ice fresh.  The physical training still goes ahead as we have half a season still to go, and the chance of competing at the Olympics 😉

I received the news that I was staying on the World Cup circuit for the 2nd half of the season, which means I’m competing in the last 3 races in Konigssee (Germany), St. Moritz (Switzerland) and Igls (Austria).

I’m now in Konigssee, first day of training starts tomorrow with the race on Friday 8th January.

Altenberg World Cup V

A cold snap was on its way in Altenberg and I wasn’t ready for it.

I’d gone back to my Bromley sled in Winterberg but there wasn’t enough time to get all of my sets of runners converted from one sled to the other.  No-one had predicted that race day in Altenberg would bring air temperatures of -17*C, but most other athletes would have runners in their possession to cope with such cold ice.  My ‘cold’ runners for these conditions were not converted in time for this race.  If you can imagine asking Lewis Hamilton to drive with slick tyres when it’s heavily raining, you’d get the idea of how much grip I had during the race!  I did the best I could by adjusting the amount of bow in the runners but it wasn’t enough.  A few skids here and there did the damage and left me at the back of the field and without a second run in 27th position.

Men’s Top 6:

1	Michi Halilovic	01:56.39
2	Alexander Tretiakov	01:56.60	00.21
3	Frank Rommel	01:56.63	00.24
4	Jeff Pain	01:56.78	00.39
5	Martins Dukurs	01:56.90	00.51
6	Tomass Dukurs	01:57.00	00.61

Women’s Top 6:

1	Kerstin Szymkowiak	01:59.50
2	Marion Trott	02:00.21	00.71
3	Anja Huber	02:00.28	00.78
4	Amy Williams	02:00.35	00.85
5	Maya Pedersen	02:00.48	00.98
6	Mellisa Hollingsworth	02:00.58	01.08