Lake Placid (RWH): The BMW IBSF World Cup will welcome the new 2019/2020 season with old and new faces alike. A total of 35 bobsleigh teams and 52 skeleton athletes from 23 nations are registered to compete at the World Cup season opener in Lake Placid.

The current Bobsleigh Olympic Champions, World Champions and defending World Cup title holders, Mariama Jamanka (GER, 2-woman Bobsleigh) and Francesco Friedrich (GER, 2-man and 4-man Bobsleigh), will both be travelling to Lake Placid.

Olympic Champion Jamanka won her first ever overall World Cup and World Championship titles last winter. Friedrich became the first ever bobsleigh athlete to win all of the season's eight races in the 2-man Bobsleigh.

Two fresh new faces will also be contributing to the German bobsleigh team’s efforts at the BMW IBSF World Cup: The current U23 World Champion Kim Kalicki will compete in her first World Cup races in Lake Placid. Laura Nolte, the 2016 Youth Olympic Champion, will then make her début in January for the race on her home track in Winterberg.

One familiar face returning to the World Cup will be bobsleigh pilot Kaillie Humphries, who missed last season. The 34-year-old athlete, who won Olympic gold for Canada in 2010 and 2014 and also won two World Championship titles and four overall World Cups, has been competing for the USA since the start of the season.

The athletes who won’t be competing in the 2019/2020 season due to injury include Chris Spring and Alysia Rissling (CAN) and the World Championship bronze medallist in the 2-man Bobsleigh, Nico Walther (GER). However, Walther is aiming to rejoin the World Cup for the second half of the season, along with Oskars Melbardis (LAT). The 4-man bobsleigh Olympic Champion (2014) and World Champion (2016) began the season in the IBSF Europe Cup.

The Olympic silver medallist Elana Meyers Taylor of the USA has a more positive reason to take a break this season. The 2015 and 2017 World Champion is pregnant with her first child due in March 2020.

The current World Champions and defending World Cup title holders in Skeleton will also be in on the action for the start of the 2019/2020 BMW IBSF World Cup: Tina Hermann (GER) and Elena Nikitina (RUS) in the women's event and Martins Dukurs (LAT) and Alexander Tretiakov (RUS) in the men's. The same goes for Olympic Champion Sungbin Yun of Korea, who finished second in the overall World Cup standings last winter.

Junior World Champion Anna Fernstädtová will be on the starting line at the World Cup in Lake Placid for her first appearance for the Czech Republic. The 22-year-old skeleton athlete already has experience in the World Cup but previously raced under the German flag. Following her performance last season, she has now secured her first World Cup starting place for the Czech team. After taking a year off for professional reasons, the Olympic bronze medallist Dom Parsons of Great Britain will also be returning to race.

Two 2-man Bobsleigh races are scheduled for the first week, with the second World Cup event one week later due to host two 4-man Bobsleigh races instead. ©RWH2019

The schedule for Lake Placid