LAKE PLACID — The 2019 USA Bobsled & Skeleton National Championships will be held at Mount Van Hoevenberg on Friday and Saturday. Not only will athletes be chasing the national championship title, but also a spot on next season’s team. The winner in each discipline will secure a World Cup spot for the 2019-2020 season.

The athletes with the lowest four-heat combined time over two days of racing will be declared the women’s and men’s skeleton national champions. Women’s bobsled will race two heats only on Friday to decide their titleholder.

Monobob was added to the 2022 Olympic program as a women’s-only event and the discipline will be an exhibition race on Saturday, and the race will have no bearing on team selection.

The winner of combined two-man and four-man race points will be named the national champion. That pilot will earn a spot on next season’s team along with his push athletes. The two-man brakeman may be different than the four-man crew; up to five men’s athletes could claim a spot on the 2019-2020 team. 

Two notable bobsled drivers will be missing from the competitions. Elana Meyers Taylor (Douglasville, Georgia) and Justin Olsen (San Antonio, Texas) both sustained injuries during the 2019 World Championships in Whistler, Canada and will not be competing. 

—

Cochran-Siegle captures national downhill race

CARRABASSETT VALLEY, Maine (AP) — Alice Merryweather and Ryan Cochran-Siegle captured downhill titles at the U.S. Alpine championships.

The 22-year-old Merryweather finished the course at Sugarloaf Mountain in a time of 1 minute, 10.61 seconds on Tuesday to edge Keely Cashman by 0.31 seconds.

AJ Hurt was third.

In the men’s race, Cochran-Siegle turned in a time of 1:07.53 to hold off Thomas Biesemeyer by 0.13 seconds. Jared Goldberg took third.

Merryweather had a solid season as she uncovered another level of confidence thanks to advice from the now-retired Lindsey Vonn. The all-time winningest female World Cup racer told Merryweather to forget about pressure and just ski fast. Merryweather was eighth during a World Cup downhill in Germany two months ago.

Cochran-Siegle finished 12th in the downhill at the world championships in Sweden last month.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press.