News photo — Parker O’Brien Team USA’s Geoffrey Gadbois, Carsten Vissering, Quentin Willey and Darius Joseph compete in the bobsled four-man event at the IBSF World Cup in Lake Placid on Dec. 18, 2022. (News photo — Parker O'Brien)

LAKE PLACID — The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation Bobsled World Cup season will conclude this weekend with the eight World Cup races at the Olympic Sports Complex at Mount Van Hoevenberg.

The three-day competition, which starts on March 21 in Lake Placid, is the final stop on this season’s World Cup circuit that began Nov. 17 in Yanqing, China, and included two weeks of World Championships races in Winterberg, Germany, from Feb. 22 through March 3.

“There’s something special about competing on home ice,” USA Bobsled and Skeleton CEO Aron McGuire said in a statement. “(The state Olympic Regional Development Authority’s) staff and volunteers do an outstanding job of organizing World Cup races to ensure all of the teams and athletes have amazing experiences. With a successful season behind us so far, we’re focused on ending on a high note and setting the stage for next season’s World Championships back in Lake Placid.”

The IBSF World Cup will feature some of the best bobsled and skeleton athletes in the world vying for podium finishes and overall positions in the World Cup standings. The World Cup points champions will be crowned at the conclusion of the event.

The disciplines are men’s and women’s skeleton, two-woman bobsleigh, two-man bobsleigh, four-man bobsleigh and women’s monobob. Each sled will take two runs down the track with the best combined time determining their finishing positions.

A Swiss monobob athlete makes her way down the Mount Van Hoevenberg track in Lake Placid during the World Cup in December 2022. (Provided photo — IBSF)

Elana Meyers Taylor, a four-time Olympian and five-time Olympic medalist, is slated to compete in the women’s monobob and two-woman bobsleigh events. Kaysha Love, who competed in the 2022 Olympian as a push athlete for Kallie Humphries and is in her first full season piloting both the two-woman and monobob, will also compete.

A little over a week ago, Love dominated both of the North American Cup two-women events in Lake Placid. She earned a gold medal on both the March 9 and 10 races with two different brakemen after returning to the U.S. following the trip to Europe for the World Cup tour.

“It was really fun to get some experience with different brakemen,” Love said on March 10. “We tested things before the World Cup because you want to best prepare ourselves to represent (Team USA) on (our) home track.”

She is currently in third place overall in the women’s monobob standings with 1,332 points. Germany’s Lisa Buckwitz is first with 1,468 points and teammate Laura Nolte is second with 1,355. Meyers Taylor ranks sixth with 1,298.

Meyers Taylor is sixth overall in the two-women standings. Nolte is first with 1,520 points, Kim Kalicki is second with 1,458 and Buckwitz is third with 1,347. Meyers Taylor has 1,064 points. Love is 12th with 728 points and Team USA’s Lauren Brzozowski is 22nd with 80 points.

In the women’s bobsled combined standings, Meyers Taylor is fourth with 2,362 points. Nolte is first with 2,875 points, Buckwitz is second with 2,815 and Austria’s Melanie Hasler is third with 2,498. Love ranks eighth with 2,060.

On the men’s side, Frank Del Duca leads the way as he vies for Team USA’s second top 10 finish in the two-men’s bobsled event since Steven Holcomb’s second place finish in 2017. Cadyville native Hunter Church finished 10th in 2020.

Del Duca’s team ranks 17th in the four-man bobsled standings, while Geoffrey Gadbois is 24th. Germany’s Francesco Friedrich is first with 1,520 points, Latvia’s Emils Cipulis is second and Johannes Lochner is third with 1,305. In the overall combined standings, Del Duca is 13th. Friedrich is first, Lochner is second and Cipulis is third.

Mystique Ro, Katie Uhlaender and Sara Roderick are the top U.S. women’s skeleton athletes, while Austin Florian and Daniel Barefoot pace the men’s team. Ro is one of the fastest starters in the sport and has had a strong World Cup season this year with two second-place finishes. She ranks 10th in the World Cup rankings with 950 points.

The Netherland’s Kimberley Bos is in first place overall with 1,370 points, Belgium’s Kim Meylemans is second with 1,154 and Germany’s Tina Hermann is third with 1,138. Team USA’s Uhlaender is 18th while Roderick is 23rd.

On the men’s side, Florian is 17th with 748 points and Barefoot is 23rd with 403. Germany’s Christopher Grotheer is the leader with 1,406 points, Great Britain’s Matt Weston is second with 1,331 and Korea’s Seunggi Jung is third with 1,259.

Germany has long been established as the team to beat in all bobsled and skeleton disciplines, sweeping all but one of the 2022-2023 overall World Cup points titles. Humphries was the only non-German to win an overall title last season with her first-place finish in monobob.

Thursday’s race will feature men’s and women’s skeleton starting at 11:30 a.m. March 22 will be the two-man and monobob races and March 23 will feature the two-woman and four-man event. The events on March 22 and 23 will kick off at 10 a.m.

Those interested can purchase tickets to the World Cup at https://tinyurl.com/bdh4tpnu.