Contact: Amanda Bird, USBSF Marketing & Communications Manager
(518) 354-2250, abird@usbsf.com
Meyers and Eberling earn bronze in St. Moritz Europa Cup
ST. MORITZ, Switzlerand (Jan. 14, 2012)–After competing in the women’s bobsled World Cup event in Koenigssee, Germany yesterday afternoon, two U.S. teams traveled to St. Moritz, Switzerland to compete in the Europa Cup race today. Elana Meyers (Douglasville, Ga.) once again partnered with Katie Eberling (Palos Hills, Ill.) to earn bronze.
“This was a total team effort,” Meyers said. “It was a tough race after coming yesterday from Koenigssee. I was pretty sore and mentally exhausted, but I’m blessed to have the most amazing teammates in the world who pulled me through this one.”
Meyers and Eberling posted the fastest start times of the competition, 5.71 and 5.67 seconds, for runs of 1:10.57 and 1:09.12, respectively. USA-1 was in fifth position after the first heat, but the duo refocused and clocked the second fastest run of the competition to move into medal position with a combined time of 2:19.69.
“Katie did an amazing job behind me, but I honestly can’t take much credit for this medal,” Meyers said. “My teammates and the coaching staff truly made this possible, and I can’t say enough about how great they are.”
The coaching staff decided to pull rookie pilots Meyers and Jazmine Fenlator (Wayne, N.J.) from the Altenberg, Germany World Cup in favor of extra training time on the St. Moritz track last weekend. The extra runs, including today’s race heats, are an effort to give the emerging pilots additional experience on the track that will host the 2013 World Championships.
Fenlator teamed with Emily Azevedo (Chico, Calif.), who finished fifth with Meyers in yesterday’s World Cup race, for 10th place today after posting a two-run total of 2:21.72.
Miriam Wagner and Franziska Fritz claimed gold for Germany with a combined time of 2:19.37, while German teammates Stefanie Szczurek and Franziska Bertels were 0.25 seconds behind to earn silver with a total of 2:19.62.
“This may have been one of the toughest bobsled races I’ve ever competed in, but I’m really happy with the result and I like our team strategy,” Meyers said.
The Koenigssee World Cup concludes tomorrow with the four-man bobsled race before the remainder of the U.S. team joins the women’s bobsledders in St. Moritz for the sixth World Cup event of the season. Meyers hopes her extra runs will give her an added advantage in next weekend’s races, where she hopes to podium again.
For media inquiries, please contact Amanda Bird, USBSF Marketing & Communications Manager, at abird@usbsf.com, or at (518) 354-2250.
Results:
1. Miriam Wagner and Franziska Fritz (GER) 2:19.37 (1:10.28, 1:09.09); 2. Stefanie Szszurek and Franziska Bertels (GER) 2:19.62 (1:10.26, 1:09.36); 3. Elana Meyers and Katie Eberling (USA) 2:19.69 (1:10.57, 1:09.12);…10. Jazmine Fenlator and Emily Azevedo (USA) 2:21.72 (1:11.18, 1:10.54);
About the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation
The United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, based in Lake Placid, N.Y., is the national governing body for the sports of bobsled and skeleton in the United States. The USBSF would like to thank its sponsors, suppliers and contributors for their support: BMW of North America, Under Armour, United States National Guard, Kampgrounds of America, National Strength and Conditioning Association, Vivat!, Global Forwarding, KBC Helmets, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, EDAS/Ripxx, UberSense, Tesa Tape and Ferris Mfg. Corp. For more information, please visit the USBSF website at http://bobsled.teamusa.org.
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