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First races of the season due up in the next feed hours. It’s a series of IBSF races in Yanqing that aren’t World Cup events, yet should feature many of the teams you’d expect to see on circuit. 

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Training has started at the new Olympic track.

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Just now, dcro said:

Not really? Women's quotas actually increased and yet they still dropped continental palces. No more freebies.

That’s true. I still don’t think getting rid of the continental quotas had to do with the performances of “smaller” nations.

 

It is what it is though. With all the countries competing in men’s skeleton, I wish there was still 30 quotas.

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31 minutes ago, dcro said:

They got removed because they allowed Nigeria and Ghana to qualify with zero competition and virtually no experience (especially in the case of Nigerians)...

Except that those athletes participation was great look for both the IOC and IBSF. 
 

Frimpong had been sliding for 2 or 3 seasons before Pyeongchang, and had been a part of the Dutch bobsleigh program previously I believe.

 

The Nigerians did game the system. 
 

However, both countries have continued to pursue the sport, since they were given that opportunity. Without those opportunities, why should any nations outside the main 10-15 fund programs?

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44 minutes ago, dcro said:

It's not. No more freebies for Nigeria. Gone with the Project Bogota.

 

38 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Who'd have though some roller skiing in Colombia would have such an effect?  

Nah, it had more to do with the quota cuts bobsleigh/skeleton suffered.

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Like the initiative, it might be a little late for Beijing though. I do hope the BSFN sticks around and continues to build a program.

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Humphries!!! That’s a victory for Team USA. 

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I don’t know what’s up with the commentary, but they are constantly steeping on each other’s toes at the moment 

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https://twitter.com/ibsfsliding/status/1340340032670994432?s=21

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Easily one of the best sled designs I’ve seen 

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30 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Even yesterday's race with zero Americans?  

Not sure, but they most likely showed it on the Olympic Channel (US Television version). 

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16 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Just too bad Martin Haven was all "first ever televised race!!" and such, but I guess these IBSF streams are shown on TV....somewhere?  Other than that, of course Winterberg was streamed as well.

NBC broadcasts races on their various channels.

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By the way, for those not in the know, BSD TV shows all the races at the four German tracks. For instance, they livestreamed the Luge World Cup training runs earlier this week. They generally show things like the IBSF Europa Cup races too.

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14 minutes ago, dcro said:

Women's Monobob 'World Series' start tomorrow. With a whopping 10 starters and no live coverage. Way to go!

 

https://www.ibsf.org/images/api/download/competitions/124f182b-fe4b-41eb-aecf-44dc94bedb02_startlist_women_s_monobob_world_series.pdf

It will be shown live on BSD TV 

 

Link (I think): https://bsd-tv.de/#/livestream/winterberg

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No 4-man will be contested at the first four rounds of the World Cup: https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1099813/bobsleigh-four-man-world-cups

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2021 World Championships have been moved from Lake Placid to Altenberg. That means Altenberg hosts back-to-back world championships, since they also hosted them last year.

 

World Cup Season is now: Sigulda, Sigulda, Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Winterberg, St. Mortiz, Königssee, and Beijing 

 

The entire North American Cup season will take place from January 4 to January 24. It’s likely that the season will just be 2 doubleheader events at two tracks (my guess is Park City/Lake Placid).

 

Europe Cup Skeleton starts at the end of November, and will visit: Königssee, Sigulda, Altenberg, and Innsbruck. The season will end towards the end of January.

 

Europe Cup Bobsleigh starts at the beginning of December, and will visit: Winterberg, Sigulda, Altenberg, Innsbruck, and Königssee. The season will end in the middle of February.

 

Skeleton Intercontinental Cup starts in December, and will visit: Königssee, Pyeongchang, and Innsbruck. The season will finish in January.

 

Junior World Championships remain at the same venue and date for the time being.

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I had a short, but informative, conversation with the pilot of the Israeli Bobsleigh Team today. He’s also the skeleton athlete that represented them at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
 

He shared an article to Reddit about the Israeli team’s goals for the next couple of years. They’re aiming for 4-man qualification at Beijing 2022, and then for a medal in 2026. Apparently the federation has found a strong sponsor that is willing to support them. It sounds like he (and others) are trying to organize Israel into a legitimate and competitive sliding program. 
 

He also gave me a little bit of backstory on himself. He learned to slide through YouTube. I feel like I learn about more and more athletes who learned their sports through YouTube. Definitely one of the positive sides of social media and technology is that sports of have become more accessible for athletes around the world.

 

He also told me a little about the 4-man team. The team has quite a unique ethnic, religious, and sexuality makeup. The pilot (AJ) is a member of the LGBTQ+ community, and is member of the Jewish faith. His crew are all Druze Arabs. 
 

I just thought that was interesting enough to share on here. 

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A must read article about brain injuries in sliding sports: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/26/sports/olympics/olympics-bobsled-suicide-brain-injuries.html