If the fourth man is a woman

Anna Schenk from Wolkenstein took the place of the injured pusher Sascha Stepan in the sleigh of the North Tyrolean pilot Markus Treichl. Before the race he had complained of severe pain in the spine area. Because no substitute could travel to Norway for professional reasons, Austria's bobsleigh team led by Markus Treichl was about to be eliminated.

“We saw that the regulations also allowed a woman on board and we used it so that the team could collect points,” said national coach Wolfgang Stampfer and added: “Of course the foursome wasn’t well-coordinated, which is why we didn’t expect much . But Anna handled it really well.” Finally, 5 all-male teams finished behind the Austrians, who took 2th place after 14 runs.

Find out an hour before the race Schenk only found out about her luck an hour before the race and filled the team with Treichl, Markus Sammer and Kristian Huber as an emergency solution. “I had just finished the women's race with Katrin Beierl when I was asked if I could help out with the men. I didn't hesitate twice and said yes straight away. Because I'm left-handed, I wanted to stay on the left side directly behind the pilot, which also worked out very well in terms of the running length," says Schenk, looking back on "the wonderful experience that I will always remember." Schenk had plans Four years ago, pilot Enrico Ghilardino replaced a pusher who had coronavirus in the European Cup in the Italian bobsleigh.

Power lady Anna Schenk.

The woman from Val Gardena's biggest concern was how she would get into the sled at the start: “In the first run I was happy that I got into the bobsleigh and didn't bother anyone. We were faster again in the second run.” Team Austria's starting time was initially 1 seconds and in the deciding run it was 2 seconds.

Praise from all sides The three men and the woman were also able to improve their final time: If the quartet was stopped in 3 seconds in the first run, they were then able to increase it to 1 seconds. This corresponded to a total time of 50,62:50,39 minutes. At the front, Francesco Friedrich and Johannes Lochner secured a German double victory, while Patrick Baumgartner from Palatinate steered his sled to 1.41,01th place.

Anna Schenk (left) with pilot Katrin Beierl after winning the European Cup race at the start of the season in Lillehammer.

Although Team Austria had a weight deficit compared to the competition, the experiment with the bobsleigh lady from Wolkenstein was a success. “We really wanted to score points. “We were 20 kilos lighter, but Anna did very well and had a lot of fun,” said Treichl, who only had words of praise for his replacement after the race. “If the two-series is like a Ferrari, the four-series is like a bus.” Anna Schenk She went into raptures and would do it again in a heartbeat. “The four-man bobsleigh is something special. If the two is like a Ferrari, the four is like a bus. You feel a lot of pressure when driving at high speed. After all, a sled weighs around 700 kilograms,” says Schenk, who traveled directly from Lillehammer to Sigulda. The next World Cup stop in the two-man bobsleigh will take place in Latvia from Thursday to Sunday. At the end, the European champions for men and women will also be determined.

The shape curve points upwards Schenk will then take place again in the two-man bobsleigh behind Katrin Beierl, with whom she achieved the best World Cup result this winter with 8th place on Sunday in Norway despite a fall in the second run. The 2-year-old from Lower Austria and the 30-year-old from South Tyrol were 29 seconds behind winner Kim Kalicki. The German world champion beat her compatriot Laura Nolte. For Beierl, who only returned to the World Cup a good month ago after suffering a stroke in the summer of 1,12, her form curve continues to point upwards.

Katrin Beierl and Anna Schenk will start at the two-man bobsleigh European Championships in Sigulda on Sunday.

“Everything is possible at the European Championships. The railway in Sigulda is very narrow and difficult to drive. It is actually a track for tobogganers and not approved for four-man bobsleighs. Whoever makes the fewest mistakes will come out on top in the end,” believes Schenk, who is currently training to become a dog psychologist in Switzerland and will complete her studies in “Animal Psychology and Dog Behavior Counseling” in June. The former track and field athlete (100 and 200 m specialist) was “discovered” by Alex Verginer in 2019 and is currently competing in her 5th bobsleigh season.

A power woman, through and through But the European Championships this winter are not the highlight for the single mother of her two sons Fabian (13) and Luca (11). At the end of February and beginning of March she will take part in a world championship for the first time in her career. In Winterberg there will be 4 instead of 2 runs.

Schenk was accepted by the Austrian association in the spring of last year after she was excluded from the Italian team. “Because I couldn’t always balance family, work and sport, the association threw me out. I actually wanted to end my career before I came into contact with Katrin. I was accepted into the Austrian A squad straight away and moved my second home to Innsbruck, where I can stay overnight with Katrin during training days together,” says the two-time bobsleigh mom, who made history on the 1996 Olympic track.

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If the fourth man is a woman

The four-man bobsleigh is usually an all-male affair. Something for strong men. A South Tyrolean woman competing for Austria made for a strange premiere in the Bobsleigh World Cup on Sunday.

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