As of: February 10, 2024, 11:00 a.m
By: Andre Oechsner
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When a woman helps four men out of trouble: Anna Schenk is suddenly at the start of the four-man bobsleigh race in Lillehammer.
Lillehammer – Anna Schenk’s working day was actually already over.
At the Bobsleigh World Cup in Lillehammer, Norway, she finished 7th with her pilot Katrin Beierl in the morning; a fall in the second run prevented a better result.
Anna Schenk |
|
|---|---|
Age: |
29 years old, from Wolkenstein in South Tyrol |
Position: |
pusher |
Team: |
Two-man bobsleigh with Katrin Beierl |
Anna Schenk replaces the injured Sascha Stepan in Lillehammer
For Schenk, the men's four-man bobsleigh race resulted in a strange extension of her working day at short notice.
Markus Treichl, the pilot of the Austrian four-man sled, was suddenly missing one of his fellow passengers - pusher Sascha Stepan had complained of severe pain in his spine that morning and a replacement man had not traveled with him.
As an emergency solution, Schenk filled the team with Treichl, Markus Sammer and Kristian Huber.
“We saw that the regulations allowed this and we used it so that the team could collect points,” said Austria’s national coach Wolfgang Stampfer, according to
Kronen Zeitung
.
“Anna handled it really well.”
Anna Schenk (back), here still competing for Italy, had to help out with the Austrian four-man bobsleigh in Lillehammer.
© Sammy Minkoff via www.imago-images.de
For use in the four-man bobsleigh: Anna Schenk set this condition
In any case, the experience wasn't entirely new for Schenk, even if there was a lack of practice.
Before moving to Austria, the mother of two once competed in a European Cup race in the Italian men's foursome.
But that was it for her experience on male race days.
Her only condition was that she was allowed to push on the left side.
Because she is left-handed, says Schenk in an interview with the Swiss newspaper
Blick
.
At least at first layman's glance, it was not obvious that the unusual team around pilot Treichl was not really well-coordinated.
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Anna Schenk admits: “We were all very nervous before the first run”
“The boys were very nice to me, but we were all very nervous before the first run,” remembers Schenk.
“I then ran out of the blocks with a high cadence, just like at the sprint start.” The bobsledder also makes it clear that she contributed her part to the starting push: “I definitely felt pressure on the bar.”
It wasn't enough for the big hit, but nobody expected that before.
With Schenk's pushing power, Treichl piloted his bobsleigh to 14th place.
There were at least 112 World Cup points for this.
“It was a lot of fun,” is Schenk’s conclusion.
(aoe)
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