The FIBT World Championships 2009, officially known as the

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 20 ...

FIBT Bobsleigh & Skeleton World Championships, February 20 to March 1, 2009, at the bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track in

Lake Placid, New York Lake Placid is a village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,303. The village of Lake Placid is near the center of the town of North Elba, southwest of Plattsburg ...

, for the ninth time, doing so previously in 1949,

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 (K ...

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

, 1978,

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

( skeleton), and 2003 (men's

bobsleigh Bobsleigh or bobsled is a team winter sport that involves making timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Feder ...

). Lake Placid was chosen 25–11 over

Igls Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol and the fifth-largest city in Austria. On the River Inn, at its junction with the Wipp Valley, which provides access to the Brenner Pass to the south, it had a po ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Event preparations

Local schools were involved in a "Scholastic Sliding Challenge" (SSC) as part of the

FIL World Luge Championships The FIL World Luge Championships, part of the International Luge Federation (FIL) have taken place on an almost annual basis in non-Winter Olympics years since 1955. These championships are shown for artificial tracks. See FIL World Luge Natural ...

that was held in early February 2009. (September 26, 2008, article accessed October 3, 2008.) This program was developed at the 2007 World Luge Championships in Igls, then carried over to last year's World Luge Championships in

Oberhof, Germany Oberhof is a town in the Schmalkalden-Meiningen district of Thuringia, Germany. Located in the Thuringian Forest mountain range, it is a winter sports center and health resort. With 1,625 inhabitants (December 2016), it is visited by 144,000 tour ...

. 22 schools participated in the Lake Placid area that involved over 4000 students. The track was iced down on October 6, 2008, the earliest it has ever been iced in preparation for both the FIBT and FIL championships. Local media coverage was provided by WSLP-FM 93.3 in neighboring Saranac Lake. Online coverage in the United States was provided by

Universal Sports Universal Sports was an American sports-oriented digital cable and satellite television network. It was owned as a joint venture between InterMedia Partners (which owned a controlling 92% interest) and NBCUniversal (which owned the remaining 8%). ...

World Cup champions prior to the championships

As of February 15, 2009, the top three final World Cup positions were as follows (note: in bobsleigh, only the driver is shown):

Bobsleigh

Two-man

February 21–22, 2009, at 08:30 EST (13:30 UTC) for the last two runs. The eventual silver medalists from Germany had the fastest first run, but the Swiss duo of Rüegg and Grand had the fastest times for the remaining three runs. Three-time and defending champion André Lange of Germany finished fifth.

Four-man

February 28 – March 1, 2009. The

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

had the fastest time in each of the four runs to win their first bobsleigh gold medal at the World championships since

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

. This was Latvia's first ever medal at the championships while five-time and defending champion Lange of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

would finish second.

Two-woman

February 20–21, 2009. The

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

duo of

Kaillie Humphries Kaillie Humphries (born Kaillie Simundson; September 4, 1985) is a Canadian-American bobsledder. Representing Canada, she was the 2010 and 2014 Olympic champion in the two-woman bobsled and the 2018 Olympic bronze medalist with brakewoman Phy ...

and

Heather Moyse Heather Moyse (born July 23, 1978) is a Canadian athlete and two-time Olympic gold medalist, representing Canada in international competition as a bobsledder, rugby union player, and track cyclist and competing at the Canadian intercollegiate ...

led after the first run while Rohbock/Meyers led after the second run before the British team of Minichiello/Cooke had the fastest third and fourth runs. Three-time defending champion Sandra Kiriasis of

finished seventh.

Skeleton

Men

February 27–28, 2009. The second run was cancelled after 20 skeleton racers had completed to irregular track conditions. Pengilly came from 15th after the first run to earn the silver medal. It was also Stähli's third gold medal which he earned on his 41st birthday.

Women

February 26–27, 2009. Trott set the track record in the first run and had the fastest time in all three runs. The final run was plagued with heavy rainfall and strong winds up to 50 mph (85 km/h). It was Williams' first world championship medal.

Mixed team

February 22, 2009. The mixed team eventconsisting of one run each of men's skeleton, women's skeleton, 2-man bobsleigh, and 2-women bobsleighdebuted at the 2007 championships. Germany had the fastest times in the first and third runs to win its third straight mixed team championship.FIBT World Championships 2009 mixed team results.
- accessed February 22, 2009.

Medal table

References

- Accessed November 6, 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Fibt World Championships 2009 2009 in bobsleigh IBSF World Championships 2009 in skeleton International sports competitions hosted by the United States Sports in Lake Placid, New York 2009 in American sports Bobsleigh in the United States