Bauhaus FIBT Bob & Skeleton World Championships in St Moritz

Second weekend showcases skeleton and four-man bobsleigh

St Moritz (RWH) The first weekend in the Bauhaus FIBT Bob & Skeleton World Championships in St Moritz (SUI) is already behind us. A clear blue sky and icy temperatures formed the backdrop against which thousands of enthusiastic spectators cheered for the World Champions and other medallists in the women's bobsleigh, two-man bobsleigh and the team competition at the Olympia Bob Run St Moritz-Celerina. This year's World Champions are Kaillie Humphries and Chelsea Valois of Canada in the women's bobsleigh, and Francesco Friedrich and Jannis Bäcker of Germany in the two-man bobsleigh. Gold in the team event went to the USA. And the Swiss hosts were given something special to celebrate when Beat Hefti and Thomas Lamparter won silver in the two-man bobsleigh. This weekend, the Bauhaus FIBT World Championships turn to the men's and women's skeleton competitions, and the four-man bobsleigh.

This is the fifth time that St Moritz has hosted the World Championships in the men's skeleton. The ice track in Switzerland's Engadin region saw the very first skeleton World Championships in 1982, when the title went to Gert Elsässer of Austria. In 1989 the champion was Alain Wicki of Switzerland, and in 1998 Willy Schneider of Germany. The last championships in St Moritz were held in 2007, and here Gregor Stähli won gold for the Swiss host, the second time that he had won the title. The women skeleton sliders also took part in the championships in 2007, with gold for Noelle Pikus-Pace of the USA, an athlete celebrating her comeback season this winter.

Athletes from 34 nations (ARG, AUS, AUT, BEL, CAN, CRO, CZE, ESP, FRA, GBR, GER, GRE, IRL, ISR, ISV, ITA, JPN, KOR, LAT, LIE, MEX, MON, NED, NZL, POL, ROU, RSA, RUS, SLO, SRB, SUI, SVK, UKR, USA) will be competing in the second World Championship weekend, with 29 women and 34 men racing for gold in the skeleton, and 37 four-man bobsleigh teams up there at the start.

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Ivan Sola (CRO) is the oldest athlete competing at the Bauhaus FIBT World Championships in St Moritz. The 51- year-old Croatian, who entered the sliding sports in 1999, is an all-round talent who personifies his country's bobsleigh sports in his multiple roles as association president, equipment manager, marketing director and athlete, as he told the newspaper Berliner Zeitung in December 2011. Back in the 1980s, Sola was a motorcycle racer and won several Croatian national championships. Born in the port of Split, sailing and speedboating were logical alternatives, and the Croatian athlete also competed in several motor racing series. Sola was infected with the bobsleigh virus during a winter holiday spent in Cortina d'Ampezzo in 1999, and Prince Albert of Monaco, at the time still an active athlete, took him under his wing in Innsbruck. Despite the scepticism of his fellow Croatians, Sola qualified for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City (USA) and even founded a bobsleigh club and association beforehand so as to comply with the rules of the Croatian National Olympic Committee. He also competed in the 2006 Olympics in Turin (ITA) and the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver (CAN), coming in the top 20 in Whistler. “All of Croatia spent the night in front of the TV. For me, that was like a gold medal,” said Sola to the Berliner Zeitung. Ivan Sola hopes to compete in his fourth Olympics in Sochi in 2014, and maybe to carry the Croatian flag into the stadium during the opening ceremony for the fourth time, too. He would then be 52 and the oldest ever competitor in a Winter Olympics. This title is currently held by the USA's Scott Baird, who won the bronze medal in curling as a substitute at the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics at the age of 54. But first, the four-man bobsleigh team from Croatia has a World Championship to race in in St Moritz. Coming in the top 20 here, too, would be as good as a gold medal for the Croatian racer. (RWH)

Elana Meyers (USA) has more than one reason to celebrate after the women's bobsleigh race at the Bauhaus FIBT World Championships. Meyers, who came third pushing Erin Pac at the 2010 Winter Olympics and won bronze as a bobsleigh pilot at the 2012 World Championships, celebrated her best ever result in a World Championship race when she won silver with Katie Eberling in St Moritz. And then during the award ceremony her partner Nicolas Taylor went down on one knee before the podium and, to the delight of spectators and athletes alike, asked her to marry him. “Silver medal and an engagement?!? Awesome day”, the athlete twittered later that day. The couple will be able to spend plenty of time together the rest of the season: Nicolas Taylor is brakeman on the US bobsleigh team and came third in the Igls team World Cup pushing Olympic Champion Steven Holcomb. (RWH)

The FIBT app brings the World Championships to smartphone or tablet

St Moritz (RWH) A dedicated app allows fans to watch the Bauhaus FIBT Bob & Skeleton World Championships live from almost anywhere. Digotel Live+ for live video streaming and Video On Demand can be downloaded free of charge from www.fibt.com, the official website of the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation FIBT (Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing), transforming smartphone, tablet, or a TV hooked up to the internet into a virtual grandstand for each of the races in the Bauhaus FIBT Bob & Skeleton World Championships in St Moritz. All of the World Championship runs will also be shown live and can be watched as recordings on the FIBT YouTube Channel. Licensing laws unfortunately prohibit all live services in Germany, Russia, the UK, Ireland, Canada, France and Italy. The latest results and reports on the Bauhaus FIBT World Championships in St Moritz can, of course, also be accessed on the FIBT website (www.fibt.com), Facebook (www.facebook.com/pages/IBSF-International-Bobsleigh-Skeleton-Federation/128374647314728) and via Twitter (www.twitter.com/FIBT).