Snowsports: Kiwi hardly spooked by skeleton run

Tionette Stoddard says she sustained a lot more injuries playing rugby. Photo / Getty Images

Pick the Winter Olympic sport which you'd think an athlete would need to either have a serious head for speed or just be plain nuts.

If you've no head for heights it has to be the ski jump where competitors soar off into space off a long curved ramp. For speed it could be the luge, where competitors lie on their backs hurtling down an icy track.

Then again, what about the skeleton, which operates on a similar principle, but with the athletes sprinting about 50 metres then diving front first on to a metal and fibreglass sled before flying down a twisting ice-encrusted concrete tunnel.

But those who reckon skeletoners must be a bit daft will get a coherent, firm argument to the contrary from New Zealand's leading woman exponent, Tionette Stoddard.

She is aiming for a place in the Vancouver Olympic field next February, and has a strong chance. In addition, two New Zealand men - Rotorua's Ben Sandford, who finished 10th three years ago in Turin, and British-based Ian Roberts - are also attempting to qualify.

Stoddard played rugby and can compare the two in injury terms. She says it's a no-brainer.

"Certainly people look at our sport and expect a lot of serious injuries and there really aren't," the Queensland-born, Dunedin-based Stoddard said.

"In my experience there were a lot more injuries in rugby. I certainly sustained a lot more playing it, but rugby was a good grounding for me, because it's quite a physical sport."

Stoddard, 34, looked elsewhere for sporting kicks after badly damaging a knee playing rugby in 2003. Skeleton caught her eye.

Six years on, with the help of her coach and husband Angus Ross, a three-time New Zealand bobsleigh Winter Olympian, and sliding coach Dirk Matschenz, Stoddard is on the right track.

She has impressive form on the World Cup circuit. Her best result was seventh at St Moritz in the 2007-08 season, the first time a New Zealander had made the top 10.

At this year's world championships at Lake Placid, Stoddard placed 12th. Her world ranking is 16, but in Olympic qualification terms she now sits No 14, as two above her would be rubbed out on the quota system which puts a restriction on how many athletes one country can field in an event.

So right now, Stoddard would be outside the requirement of being in the top 50 per cent of the prospective field; but inside the top 20 who will form the field at Vancouver. The start list is based on world ranking points.

Back to the speed. Stoddard estimates it will take the skeletoners about 55 seconds per run. Courses vary but Whistler starts at 935m, has 16 turns and drops to 802m at the bottom.

Successful skeleton racing is all about controlling pressure in a curve, not getting too high on the side walls, and maintaining a flat arc. All while whizzing down at somewhere north of 130km/h.

"The speed you experience once you have a clue about what you're doing on the sled is far and away more exhilarating than the bumpy, hairy-scary ride you subject yourself to when you're first learning," she said. The exhilaration comes from being in complete control, relaxed and focused.

"It's very quiet, even tranquil. In that place I'm all alone and can feel the flow of the pressures in each curve; nothing in the outside world even registers."

If you can't get a decent push at the start, chances of success are slim. The push determines the velocity. It's importance cannot be overstated. Not enough speed means a racer can't get sufficient pace up, and at the finish we're talking fractions of seconds.

Her top seed was 133km/h at Whistler training last February. The women's record on that track on race day is 139km/h.

Whistler is known as a fast track and "the last curve is pretty hairy. A lot of people do go on one runner out of that curve," she said. Having one runner off the track, suffice to say, is not good.

The New Zealand Olympic Committee have toughened the qualification path, alongside putting more funding in place, and that's fine by Stoddard.

"I fully embrace a shift toward expecting high performance from us," she said.

"There has been funding that's helped us so they're expecting us to be at a higher level.

"I totally understand what they're trying to do and at the end of the day I don't really want to go to the Olympics just for the experience. Their top 50 per cent of the field criteria is probably less than what I'm expecting of myself anyway."

At Lake Placid, Stoddard had the third best push of all the field, and that gives her encouragement. "I certainly think I've got all the necessary things I need to win, so why not?" she said.

"A lot can happen on race day. There are a lot of variables. You could be in the best form of your life and have the best race you've ever had and still not win.

"You can't control what other people do, but you're trying to give yourself every possible opportunity."

RIDING THE METAL SLED

* The Olympic event will be staged at the Whistler Sliding Centre. It will consist of four runs of 1450m, including 16 turns and taking about 55 seconds.
* The first run is based on world rankings with the idea being leader comes down last on the final, deciding run.
* The women's field consists of 20 athletes, of whom New Zealand's Tionette Stoddard is ranked No 16 in the world.
* The record speed for a woman skeleton racer on the Whistler course is 139km/h. Stoddard's fastest effort is 133km/h.