Gold in Sochi!!! Pure Amazing

Noelle Pikus-Pace come home with the Gold Medal on the Olympic track in Sochi!

The last World Cup race of the 2012-2013 season took place last night in Sochi, Russia: The Olympic Test Event.  Noelle came from behind by .17 seconds and moved up from 2nd to 1st place by .11 seconds to claim the Gold Medal.

Watch her runs at the following links:

1st Run - Noelle is 3rd off (the beginning of the video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3Deflp91gs
2nd Run - Noelle is 2nd to last off (41min 10 sec mark)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAONTms5eCM

Sochi-The Final Race!

Women's skeleton world cup race:

February 15th, at 9:30 p.m. Friday night MST.
It will be live on YouTube at the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXuKnaTukb4&feature=g-user-lss

Noelle Pikus-Pace will be going off 3rd.  We are hoping for a top 6 finish.  She has had tractors and bulldozers running 24/7 outside her window, so she has had some rough nights and little sleep.  This unfortunately results in poor concentration in a sport where your reflexes need to be precise.

We have faith, Go Noelle!!

World Championships Silver! Congrats Noelle!!!

CONGRATULATIONS NOELLE TO YOUR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS SILVER MEDAL!!!

For a brief recap of the World Championships race in St. Moritz.  Noelle Pikus-Pace finished in 2nd after the 2 day event.  She posted the 2 fastest times on the 2nd day closing in on the lead.  The most important thing about her silver medal finish in this race, is this:  Noelle earned a bye onto the US World Cup team for the 2013-2014 season!

The kids and I returned home last week, along with Noelle's parents and sister Amanda, while Noelle continued onto her final race in Sochi, Russia.  They call this World Cup race the Olympic test event.  This race is scheduled to take place on Saturday, Feb 16 at 6:00 a.m. MST, but I just received news that the race may take place Friday night at 9:30 p.m. MST.  It should be live on Youtube as usual.

Please keep checking back, I will have the site updated no later than Friday with the official time.

World Championships are in the Morning!!!

Hello Team Pikus Pace and Welcome to the Skeleton World Championships in St. Moritz/Celerina, Switzerland.

Inside Scoop

See below for the viewing schedule and youtube links.  Here is what is important for the next 2 days and how it works.

  

  -Skeleton World Championships is a 2 day event which consists of 4 runs (2 runs each day).

  -All 4 runs are added together to name the World Champion

  -Noelle needs a top 4 finish by the end of Heat 4 on Friday (the last run and end of the race).

  -If Noelle gets a 4th place finish or better she as an automatic bye onto the US team next year!  This will                   pretty much ensure that she will be going to the Olympics in Sochi (assuming no bobsleds come out of the      track at her direction and ensuring that no other bizarre accident takes place).

  - Have fun watching, don't lose too much sleep and I will keep the blog up to date with any important information that I come across.

Women's Skeleton Viewing Schedule

Heat 1: Thursday, January 31, 2013 @ 12:55 a.m. MST 
  Noelle is going off about 24th (about 1:35 a.m. MST)

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88oF_CnLWcg&list=LEkr7c8lwpup_LfDV7hOQWsgU

Heat 2:  Thursday, January 31, 2013 @ 2:40 a.m. MST
  Based on reverse order, Noelle should be going off about 40 min after this start time.
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXIUaaPLvik&list=LEkr7c8lwpup_LfDV7hOQWsgU

Heat 3:  Friday, February 1, 2013 @ 1:00 a.m. MST 
    Noelle will be going off 2nd so make sure your there for the start!       
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dylLebZeJ78&list=LEkr7c8lwpup_LfDV7hOQWsgU

Heat 4:  Friday, February 1, 2013 @ 2:45 a.m. MST 
     Based on reverse order Noelle should be about 40 min after this start time.      
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIPqrYeF_ko&list=LEkr7c8lwpup_LfDV7hOQWsgU

World Champions Team USA1!!

Noelle and Team USA1 are World Champions!!!

The team event consists of 1 run from each of 4 disciplines.  

1. Men's Skeleton
2. Women's Bobsleigh
3. Women's Skeleton
4. Mens' Bobsleigh

The times from the 4 runs are added together consecutively to give the current rank.  Team USA1 was in 4th place going into Noelle's run.  Noelle had an impressive PR push and beat the women's skeleton field in style with the closest contender .84 seconds behind her, moving team USA1 into 1st place.  Men's bobsleigh was last to go where Holcomb held onto the lead to name USA1 World Champions, giving them the gold medal in the team event!  Check below to watch the highlight video of the race.  Go Noelle!  Go USA!!

From left to right:  Curtis Tomasevicz, Steven Holcomb, Noelle Pikus-Pace, Elana Meyers, Lolo Jones and John Daly.

Noelle Pikus-Pace heading into her track record run at the World Championship team event. 

Our family with bobsledders Jazmine Fenlator and Aja Evans.

Team USA1 on the podium with the World Championship Cup!

Ohhhhhh say can you see!!!!

Once again team USA1: Steven Holcomb, Noelle Pikus-Pace, John Daly, Elana Meyers, Curtis Tomasevicz and Lolo Jones.

Can't get enough of USA1: Steven Holcomb, John Daly,  Elana Meyers, Noelle Pikus-Pace, Curtis Tomasevicz and Lolo Jones.

This was a great moment after the race.  The track starts in St. Moritz and ends in Celerina.  This is considered the top of the world!

Go USA!

Handcrafted ice hut at the top of the track.  This is the only track in the world that is a natural track.  That means there is no artificial freezing, it is all done by mother nature.  The track is also hand built each year which makes it very unique.

Elana Meyers and Lolo Jones loading into the sled at the start of their team run.

Noelle and her coach "Tuffy" at the start.

Igls & The Hunt For $100k Euros!

Igls or Eagles?  We say it the same.  Noelle has always done well here on this track.  It was her 2nd Gold medal back in the 2004/2005 World Cup season and now with her newly found push we were pulling for a good finish.  She did very well and we were really pleased with her Silver Medal finish!

Triple Trophy

The FIBT initiated the Triple Trophy, starting this year, with a prize of $100k in Euros to the slider/sliders that win Gold in 3 tracks: Konigssee, Igls and Sochi.  Although money has never been the reason Noelle has competed, it somehow seemed to subconsciously add a little pressure.  $100k would have been nice, but with that pressure now gone, she will be able to compete in the next 2 races without the unnecessary pressure of having to win.

I will keep the blog up to date this week.  If you sign up for "Follow by email" on the blog you will be notified as soon as I update the blog with the changes and other important info.

Here is the update for the next 1-1/2 weeks for World Championships in St. Moritz.

Team Race
Sunday, January 27th at 5:35 a.m. MST
Noelle will race in the Team Event.  She has been named to team USA 1.  Here is the current link to watch this event live:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMZtVcyPKpw&feature=g-user-lss

World Championships Women's Skeleton
Thursday, January 31st and Friday, February 1st
I will update the blog with further info toward the end of this week with times and links.

Here are some pics of our week in Igls, Austria:

Noelle Pikus Pace doing a little celebration slide down the hill with her trophy!

The kids on World Cup race day at the track. 

Lacee was making snow angels just about anywhere there was snow; from parking lots to hillsides and here at the bottom of the track. 

 Noelle after her first run.  She finished run 1 in 2nd place behind russia.

 Noelle and the 2 Russians who placed 1st and 3rd.

Here is our little slider.  She loves putting on mommies suit and gear and racing down the hill.  She took first here as we were cheering her on! :) 

 Noelle Pikus Pace holding her 2nd place trophy at the awards ceremony which took place about 4 hours after the race.  They didn't give any medals here only the trophy.

 Here we are after awards.  The kids love playing in the snow.  It is extremely nice when it is cold enough for them to play in the snow without it melting all over them.  This is the 1st race where it has been cold enough for the snow not to melt everywhere.

 

Noelle and the kids getting ready to take their victory slide down the hill at the awards ceremony. 

Once again, our little champion all suited up ready to compete!

Igls, Austria World Cup Race

This weeks race is her in lovely Igls, Austria near Innsbruck.  The race is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. here for us so that makes it an early morning race for the die hard watchers!  She will also be competing in a team event on Saturday about 7:30 a.m. MST.  I will update this closer to the race if it changes.

Igls Race Day

Friday January 18, 2013

1:00 a.m. MST

https://www.youtube.com/user/bobskeletv

Look for the live event and remember there is heat 1 & heat 2 about 1hr 30 min apart.

Team Race

Saturday January 19, 2013

7:30 a.m. MST

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJVJjhG_gH0&feature=g-high-lss

This is a one heat race for 4 disciplines.  They total the times of each racer to give the team a final time.  So there will be only 1 run from the following:
Men's skeleton
Women's bobsled
Women's skeleton
Men's bobsled