IBSF World Champs Women’s & 2-man Bobsled Start Lists

From Altenberg, GER

Feb 20, 2020 – Below are the start lists for the first weekend of the IBSF World Championships from Altenberg, Germany. The first heat of women’s bobsled will start at 8:00 AM Eastern on Friday, while Saturday morning at 5:30 will see the first heat of 2-man bobsled.

In both women’s and 2-man bobsled Germany will send all four qualified sleds (three sleds plus the junior world champion). The United States will send one sled in each discipline. Below is the breakdown of sleds by nation:

Women’s Bobsled (20 total):
4 sleds: Germany
2 sleds: China, Italy, Russia, Switzerland
1 sled: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Great Britain, Poland, Romania, United States

The battle for the podium in the women’s bobsled race will pit the United States’ Kaillie Humphries (with Lauren Gibbs on her brakes) and Christine de Bruin (with Kristen Bujnowski) against a small fleet of German sleds led by World Cup champion Stephanie Schneider. Humphries has been dominant in Altenberg at the World Cup level, winning four of her last six starts and finishing third in the other two. de Bruin finished second in the most recent World Cup stop in Altenberg.

Meanwhile the German women have traditionally struggled in Altenberg, with only Olympic champion Mariama Jamanka (gold 2018/2019) and Anna Köhler (bronze 2017/2018) finishing on the podium since the 2014 Olympic Games. Köhler will not take part in World Championships, as she was effectively the first German out.

2-man Bobsled (27 total):
4 sleds: Germany
3 sleds: Latvia
2 sleds: Austria, China, Great Britain, Italy, Russia, Switzerland
1 sled: Canada, Czech Republic, France, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Romania, United States

Unlike their women’s bobsled teammates, the German men have dominated in Altenberg over the last few seasons. Francesco Friedrich has been the top slider in 2-man bobsled and looks to break a tie for most consecutive 2-man World Championships with his sixth straight title (Eugenio Monti, 1957–1961). Friedrich has won often and almost everywhere and Altenberg is no different. In his six World Cup 2-man starts in Altenberg Friedrich has won four races, and never finished outside of the top five. Teammate Nico Walther has five starts in Altenberg and save for a disqualification in 2018, he has not finished outside of the top six.

Looking to challenge Friedrich will be Canadian Justin Kripps and Latvian Oskars Kibermanis. Both men have success on the German track, with Kripps finishing second and first in his last two 2-man starts and Kibermanis finishing his last three races there with three bronze medals. Kripps, Walther, and Oskars Melbardis are also the only three men in the field to ever finish ahead of Friedrich in World Cup competition in Altenberg.

The women’s bobsled World Championships kick off on Friday, February 21 at 8:00 AM eastern, with the second run at 9:30. The third run will start at 9:30 AM ET on Saturday, with the final run at 11:00 AM ET.

The men will start Saturday morning at 5:30 AM eastern, with a second run at 7:00 AM. The final two runs of the first weekend of World Championships will start at 8:30 AM ET on Sunday, with the final heat at 10:00 AM.

Start Lists