Jamaican on board

Beierl starts with “sprint secret weapon” in Igls

Katrin Beierl

(Bild: GEPA )

Bobsleigh pilot Katrin Beierl will be competing in the two-man event at her home World Cup in Igls this weekend with a new pusher. The 31-year-old from Lower Austria will form a team for the first time with track and field athlete Christania Williams, who won silver with the Jamaican sprint relay team at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. National bobsleigh coach Wolfgang Stampfer spoke of a "secret weapon" from whom they hope to achieve better start times.

"I'm extremely happy that she's here," said Beierl at a media event in Innsbruck on Thursday. The fact that she now has another team member to fall back on alongside Nicola Pichler and Anna Schenk with Williams did not happen spontaneously. "Christania was already involved in training camps in the summer. These are not her first starts on ice. She has been training in St. Pölten for a few years. That's how it came about," reported Beierl, who also spends a lot of time at the Olympic Center there.

The aim is to reduce the gap at the start compared to the competition. It remains to be seen whether this can be achieved in Igls. "It went quite well in training yesterday, but we've never raced together before," says Beierl, who will be competing in the monobob event on Saturday. The two-man competition will take place on Sunday. The goal for the season is the World Championships in Lake Placid in March. "There's still a bit of time left and Christania will feel more comfortable and improve with every run."

Treichl has top 6 in his sights
Markus Treichl also wants to build on his good season in front of his home crowd, which has brought the Tyrolean podium places in both the two-man and four-man events. "I'm actually going into the home World Cup with a very good feeling. You have to get off to a good start in Igls, which we've done well in the past races. I'm assuming that we can finish in the top 6 in both disciplines," explained the 31-year-old, who will first compete in the two-man event on Saturday before getting into the big bobsleigh on Sunday. "We are definitely competitive in the four-man, the Germans are also beatable there."

Meanwhile, Stampfer reported on a material project with which the Austrians want to get even closer to the German sleds. "We have this running in the background because we can see that we are behind the Germans, especially in the doubles." The cooperation with the Swiss federation should also help. "We are trying to create a win-win situation for both nations."