Tionette Stoddard
Otago skeleton racer Tionette Stoddard has finished just
outside the top 10 at the world championships in Lake Placid,
New York.
Stoddard was 12th, equal with Japan's Nozumi Komura, after
two days of racing at the event.
It represents a solid improvement from last year, when she
was 17th in Altenberg, Germany.
Stoddard placed eighth, 16th, 13th and 11th in the four
individual heats in Lake Placid, and was one of 10 riders to
break the track record.
Her push-start has been much stronger this season and she had
the third fastest push of the whole competition, Stoddard
told the Otago Daily Times in an email.
She said weather fluctuations had affected racing.
In training, it had been as cold as -15degC but the
temperature was about zero on the first day of competition
and got as warm as 7degC on the second run.
"The ice conditions were extremely variable and choice of
equipment for the race was critical," she said.
"I got caught out since I had gone with runners which are
better suited to much colder conditions. Overall, given the
equipment disadvantage I feel satisfied that I performed
well."
Stoddard said her main aim was to have four consistent runs,
as that will be the format of skeleton racing at the Winter
Olympics in Vancouver next year.
New Zealand men's skeleton racers Iain Roberts and Michael
Coutts were placed 20th and 28th respectively before their
event was postponed because of deteriorating track
conditions.
The 2008-09 season has been Stoddard's most successful.
She achieved five top-12 finishes in nine races on the tough
World Cup circuit and finished with rankings of 13th (World
Cup) and 16th (overall).
Stoddard was 12th at the world championships and won an
America's Cup event in Calgary.
Her season is effectively over apart from two final America's
Cup races in April.
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