Personal information | |
---|---|
Born | Upper Nyack, New York, U.S. | September 16, 1980
Sport | |
Country | Skelton racing |
Kathrine "Katie" Koczynski-Demong (born September 16, 1980, in Upper Nyack, New York) is an American skeleton racer who competed internationally from 2000 until 2005. [1] Koczynski competed on the FIBT World Cup circuit from 2002 through 2005 and placed fourth at a world cup race in Calgary in November 2003. Koczynski competed in three world championships for the United States in 2003, 2004 and 2005. [2]
Koczynski failed to qualify for the 2006 US Olympic Team and retired from international racing to complete her degree at Columbia University. [3] She graduated from Columbia University in May 2007 magna cum laude with a degree in Sociology. Her best finish at the FIBT World Championships was 11th at Nagano in 2003.
At the 2010 Winter Olympics on February 25, Koczynski's boyfriend, gold medal skier in the Nordic combined Bill Demong, proposed to her in front of teammates and coaches at the US team headquarters near Vancouver. [4] Koczynsk said yes. [4] Koczynski and Demong discussed how this happened on NBC's Today show the following morning. [5]
On July 11, 2010, Koczynski married Demong in Lake Placid, New York. [6]
James Edmound Shea Jr. is an American skeleton racer who won the gold medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Mihails Arhipovs is a former Latvian bobsledder who has competed since 2003. Competing in two Winter Olympics, he earned his best finish of tenth in the four-man event at Vancouver in 2010.
Helen Lesley Upperton is a Canadian bobsledder who has competed since 2002. Upperton was born in Ahmadi, Kuwait as her parents involvement in the oil industry meant they traveled abroad. She holds dual citizenship of both Great Britain and Canada. Upperton won the silver medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics after previously finishing fourth in the two-woman event at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. In 2020 Upperton won a Canadian Screen Award for “Best Sports Analyst” for her coverage of the Bobsleigh World Championship event with Mark Lee. She went to high school at Dr. E.P. Scarlett High School and graduated from the University of Texas in Austin with a BSc.
The Israeli Bobsled and Skeleton Team is the official bobsleigh and skeleton team of Israel. The team is the competitive wing of Bobsled/Skeleton Israel, which Aaron Zeff, former National Football League player John Frank, and David Greaves founded in 2002.
William Demong is an American former Nordic combined skier and Olympic gold medalist. Demong is a five-time Olympian, having competed in Nagano, Salt Lake City, Torino, Vancouver and Sochi.
Noelle Pikus-Pace is an American retired skeleton racer who began her career in 2001. She won five medals at the FIBT World Championships, competed in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and won the silver medal in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Susi-Lisa Erdmann is an East German-German luger and bobsledder who competed from 1977 to 1998 in luge, then since 1999 in bobsleigh. She was born in Blankenburg, Bezirk Magdeburg. Competing in five Winter Olympics, she won two medals in the women's singles luge event with a silver in 1994 and a bronze in 1992, and a bronze at the inaugural two-women bobsleigh event in 2002. She is one of only two people to ever win a medal in both bobsleigh and luge at the Winter Olympics; Italy's Gerda Weissensteiner is the other.
Michelle Kelly is a Canadian former skeleton racer who competed from 1994 to 2013. A two-time Olympian, Kelly is largely considered to be one of the pioneers of the sport of Women's Skeleton. Originally an elite gymnast, she was recruited for her explosive power to the Canadian Women's National Bobsleigh Team as a brakeman, competing from 1994 to 1999. In 1995 Kelly started sliding Skeleton and competing in both sports. When Women's Skeleton and Bobsled were both named to make their debut at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Kelly chose Skeleton. She finished 10th at those 2002 Games, and went on to earn the Olympic alternate position at the 2006 Torino Olympics, and another Olympic birth at the 2010 Winter Olympics, finishing 13th. Kelly won a complete set of medals at the FIBT World Championships with a gold in 2003, a silver in 2008, and a bronze in 2005, as well as taking the women's Skeleton World Cup overall title in 2002-3.
Kathryn "Katie" Uhlaender is an American skeleton racer who has competed since 2003. She has won six medals at the FIBT World Championships with two gold, one silver, and three bronze.
The FIBT World Championships 2011 took place 14 February – 27 February 2011 in Königssee, Germany, for the fifth time, doing so previously in 1979, 1986, and 1990 (skeleton), and 2004. In 2007, the championships were awarded to Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy over Winterberg Germany, but Cortina withdrew in February 2009 to a series of issues.
The FIBT World Championships 2009, officially known as the Bauhaus FIBT Bobsleigh & Skeleton World Championships, February 20 to March 1, 2009, at the bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track in Lake Placid, New York, for the ninth time, doing so previously in 1949, 1961, 1969, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1997 (skeleton), and 2003. Lake Placid was chosen 25–11 over Igls, Austria.
Kaillie Humphries is a Canadian-American bobsledder. Representing Canada, she was the 2010 and 2014 Olympic champion in the two-woman bobsled and the 2018 Olympic bronze medalist with brakewoman Phylicia George. With her victory in 2014, she became the first female bobsledder to defend her Olympic title and was named flagbearer for the Olympic closing ceremony with brakewoman Heather Moyse.
Justin Bradley Olsen is an American bobsledder who has competed since 2008. He won two medals at the 2009 FIBT World Championships in Lake Placid, New York, with a gold in the four-man and a bronze in the mixed team events. Olsen's best event bobsleigh World Cup finish was second on three occasions in 2008–09. Olsen won a gold medal at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics in the four-man bobsled with driver Steve Holcomb.
John Napier is an American bobsled driver and a soldier in the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program. He won the two-man event at the 2009 U.S. National Bobsled Championships with Cory Butner. At the 2009 FIBT World Championships, he placed 17th in the two-man event with T.J. Burns and 11th in the four-man event with Jesse Beckom, Jamie Moriarty, and Nick Cunningham.
The women's skeleton event at the 2010 Winter Olympics took place at the Whistler Sliding Centre on 18–19 February. The competition was won by British athlete Amy Williams, who set new course records for the track on her first and third runs. Williams, who had never before won a World Cup or World Championship event, became the first British athlete to win a solo Winter Olympic gold medal in 30 years. German sliders Kerstin Szymkowiak and Anja Huber won the silver and bronze medals respectively. Williams' teammate Shelley Rudman, who had won the silver medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics, and Canadian Mellisa Hollingsworth, both of whom had been expected to be in medal contention, were disappointed.
Matthew Antoine is an American skeleton racer who has competed since 2003.
Fabienne Meyer is a Swiss former bobsledder who has been competing since 2005.
Nozomi Komuro is a Japanese skeleton racer who has competed since 2004 and joined the Japanese national team in 2005. She uses a Bromley sled.
Kim Dong-hyun is a South Korean bobsledder who has competed since 2008. At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, he finished 19th in the four-man event.
Kyle Tress is an American Olympic skeleton racer who competed from 2002 until 2017. He placed 25th in the 2011 FIBT World Championships in Konigssee, Germany. His best World Cup finish was 5th in the men's event at St. Moritz, Switzerland on January 11, 2013, and Lake Placid, New York, on November 5, 2012. On January 18, 2014, Tress was named to the 2014 Olympic team. His last World Cup race was in February 2017, at Igls, where he finished in 19th place; the following season, Tress began coaching the Japanese national team.
Katie Koczynski and Bill Demong are to be married Sunday at the Crowne Plaza Resort and Golf Club in Lake Placid, N.Y.