Olympic qualifier for skeleton, bobsled slides into Park City

Skeleton slider jumping on after crossing the red starting line at the Utah Olympic Park during the Olympic qualifying race attended by 25 countries. Photo: TownLift // Michele Roepke

PARK CITY, Utah — Don’t let the name of the race, North America’s Cup, fool you. The International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation put on an Olympic qualifying competition at the Utah Olympic Park for no less than 25 different countries. 

Lasting the last week and a half, sliders came to try to get their tickets punched to represent their country in February in Italy at the Winter Games in Milan-Cortina. This race was merely one of a series of qualifiers leading up to the Olympics.

A Junior Pan American component was present as well.

Countries represented included: USA, France, Australia, Israel, Spain, Brazil, Canada, Ghana, Japan, Malasia, Korea, Chinese Taipei, Luxembourg, Mexico, Columbia, South Africa, Ireland, Puerto Rico, Malta, Trinidad & Tobago, Thailand, Nigeria, Latvia, Slovakia, and Jamaica.

“With this exciting Olympic year event, it’s great to support the UOP’s mission statement which is essentially to be not only a home-track for developing athletes from around the USA, but to be a destination venue for developing athletes from all around the world,” Decades-long Bobsled, Skeleton, Luge Track Manager R.J. Shannon told TownLift.

It’s not out of the ordinary to have a camera crew following around Akwasi Frimpong, a Utahn Olympian from Ghana, like they were this week.

The material shades were rolled up in Curve 12 so spectators could watch all the athletes cruz through, including Frimpong shown in this video below. Shades are strategically rolled down by the track crew at the other 14 curves to keep the cold in and preserve the human-made ice. 

A member of the track crew, Austin Carter, took the following podium pictures which highlight the multiple USA podium spots, after, as seen in one of the pics, he used a leaf-blower to clear any debris away from the starting timing eye and out of the cut drive lines at the start area which guide the sleds runners straight.

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Salt Lake City’s Noah Park, who along with his twin brother Baden represented the United States in the Youth Olympic Games, discusses his season in the below video.

After hundreds of runs down the track the race results were extensive and comprehensive, the winners included:

• 4-Man Bobsled: Jamaica and Brazil
• 2-Woman Bobsled: Canada and Korea
• Mens Skeleton: France and Australia
• Womens Skeleton: Puerto Rico and South Africa
• Jr. Pan Am Womens Skeleton: Canada and again Canada
• Jr. Pan Am Mens Skeleton: Brazil and again Brazil with Utah’s Baden Park taking a 2nd and a 3rd place