After the race draw today, Noelle's name drew #7 and Katie will be going 8th. We have had a good day of training and hope for Noelle and Katie to both finish in the top 6. That's the goal this race. Thanks for your support!
Where: Calgary, Alberta Canada When:Friday, November 29, 2013 (Day after thanksgiving, opponents trying to slow the US down) Time:1:15 p.m. MST - Heat 1, 3:30 p.m. MST - Heat 2 Watch:Click Link Above "Live Race Online"
Our Olympic journey started off on Wednesday of last week with a direct flight to New York City, for an event with one of our sponsors, Kellogg's. We saw the Statue of Liberty for the first time (as you will see below).
The following day we had a late start for a scheduled 5 hr drive. Those plans were foiled by a 1 hr delay with traffic in the city and an accidental detour. Our navigator fell asleep (don't tell her I said that :)) and we took a freeway that lead us west instead of north. We ended up in Utica, NY when we should have been only 1/2 hr away from our destination. :( So after a 2 hr drive to nowhere, we discovered our error and made our next 2.5 hr drive safely to our adopted family in Wilmington, NY!
Weather here in Lake Placid, NY has been extremely warm. Sliding has been cancelled every day so far, with the exception of the bobsled team trials which took place today.
Sliding will resume tomorrow but Noelle will be sliding for the first time this year Monday morning.
Wish her luck and thank you all for your support.
Team trials races will take place next week Monday and Tuesday October 20 and 21.
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.
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.
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)
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.
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!
