WINTERBERG, GERMANY (February 23, 2024) - USA Bobsled/Skeleton (USABS) has begun its journey into the IBSF World Championships with two days of skeleton competitions.

The racing action began on February 22 with heats 1 and 2 of Women’s and Men’s Skeleton. The skeleton athletes representing Team USA in these events were Mystique Ro for Women’s Skeleton and Dan Barefoot alongside Austin Florian for Men’s Skeleton.

At the end of the first day, Ro was in tenth place with a two-run time of 1:57.47. In the men’s division, Florian closed his first day of racing in 12th place with his combined time of 1:55.46 while Dan finished in 21st place with his time of 1:56.67.

The 23rd brought the final two heats of sliding for both the men and women. In the Women’s Skeleton division, Ro finished in eighth place with a combined four-run time of 3:51.65. In the men’s division, Florian finished in ninth with a combined time of 3:46.97 and Barefoot finished in 22nd with a time of 3:49.40.

“Winterberg can be simplistic and frustrating all at the same time, and typically the weather here loves to work against you. Day 1 threw some challenges at us but everyone adjusted well to work with it as best as possible. Day 2 brought us much more consistent and fast ice. Mystique worked through issues on the track all week and really put it all together on her final run. It was such a tight race for the women, a few hundredths here or there could really change things. Her finish shows how she’s continued to build all week. Austin has been pushing and sliding the best I’ve ever seen him do over the past month. The pieces are coming together and a top-10 finish is a solid result to keep building on. I’m also very happy with how Mystique, Austin, and Dan have worked together this week and built some great team unity. Those are the things that don’t always show up on a results sheet but undoubtedly keep moving us forward. Now we turn our attention to the team race, something that we feel is really built towards our strengths,” shared Matt Antione, Head Skeleton Coach for USABS.

Tomorrow, skeleton events conclude with the Skeleton Mixed Team competition after heats one and two of Women’s Monobob and 2-Man.

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About USA Bobsled/Skeleton

USA Bobsled/Skeleton is the national governing body for the sports of bobsled and skeleton racing in the United States. Based in Lake Placid, NY, USA Bobsled/Skeleton oversees the development and training of American athletes at all levels of competition.

TEAM USA COMPETES IN MENS’ AND WOMENS’ SKELETON EVENTS AT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

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