LAKE PLACID, N.Y. --- Canada’s Lonnie Bissonnette leads para-bobsled athletes from 11 nations into Lake Placid, N.Y. to compete in the 2019 Para-Bobsleigh World Championships, Saturday and Sunday, March 30-31. Bissonnette won four of 10 Para-Bobsleigh World Cup races this season en route to his third overall crown in the last four seasons.

Para-Bobsleigh athletes compete in their own in specially designed ‘monobobs.’ The athletes who compete Saturday and Sunday will take four-race runs down the famed Mt. Van Hoevenberg track, trying to clock the fastest time down the mile-long track. Both men and women compete against each other and the athlete with the fastest combined time will be crowned the 2019 World Champion.

“ORDA is excited to be a part of the continued growth of para-bobsleigh,” said New York State Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) president/CEO Mike Pratt.  “Para-bobsleigh is a test of focus, determination and courage and I can think of no other track in the world that can do that better than Lake Placid’s.”

In addition to Bissonnette, other athletes to watch include Latvia’s Arturs Klots, the reigning world champion and two-time World Cup gold medalist this winter, Austria’s Andreas Kapfinger, a six-time podium finisher, and American Christ Rasmussen, a three-time World Cup bronze medalist. Other athletes competing will be from Australia, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Israel, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Training, Tuesday through Friday, is slated from 10 a.m.- 1 p.m. Racing on Saturday and Sunday begins at 10 a.m. both days. Admission is $9 for adults and teens and $7 for juniors and seniors. Children six and under receive free admission.

For more information about all of the events and activities on ORDA’s Olympic venues, visit www.WhitefaceLakePlacid.com.

Media planning on covering and attending the event, contact Jon Lundin, ORDA director of communications, by email, JLundin@orda.org, Tel: 518-637-6885.

-- ORDA --

Established in 1982, the New York State Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) was created by the State of New York to manage the facilities used during the 1980 Olympic Winter Games at Lake Placid. ORDA operates Whiteface, Belleayre and Gore Mountain ski areas; the Olympic Sports Complex at Mt. Van Hoevenberg; the Olympic speed skating oval, Olympic jumping complex and Olympic arena. As host to international and national championships, the Authority has brought millions of athletes, spectator and participants to the region, resulting in significant economic development.