Euro & WC gold, WCH bronze for Mapp
Corie Mapp won European Championship gold, World Cup gold and World Championship bronze in Norway in a fantastic three-day spell of Para Bobsleigh racing over the weekend.
Mapp claimed the second continental crown and the latest World Cup win of his stellar career in Lillehammer on Friday, before making the podium at the showpiece event of the season at the same track on Saturday and Sunday.
Having won European silver in each of the last three seasons in Igls, St Moritz and La Plagne, the double amputee finished a tenth of a second ahead of Switzerland’s Christopher Stewart in a race that also counted as the sixth World Cup competition of the year.
Mapp was second quickest in the first run on Friday but overturned the 0.04 second deficit to Stewart in the second heat to repeat his European win from Oberhof in 2020.
It also marked his first World Cup gold of the season after two previous silvers, a bronze, a fourth and a fifth-place finish and was his 13th World Cup win since he first represented Great Britain back in 2015. It means he sits atop the world rankings with just two of the eight World Cup races still to come.
He was fastest in the final heat of the weekend’s World Championships and third quickest in the first but it wasn’t quite enough to stop Robert Balk from winning his first World title after the American produced the quickest times in Runs 1, 2 and 3. Stewart matched his European performance by claiming his third silver in as many days.
“It’s been an extremely challenging but rewarding week. Our goals were to maintain the No1 World Cup ranking, win the Euros and win the World Championships,” said Mapp.
We’ve managed to do two of the three and I’m extremely proud of what we’ve achieved, especially with what I’ve had to go through in the last two years.
“I’m extremely proud to represent and serve this country, and it’s something I never take for granted.
“Now it’s time to finish the job in La Plagne and win the Overall World Cup title. That would mean everything to me. Winning that means you’re good everywhere - and that’s my goal always.”
Corie Mapp is in the midst of another historic season
Mapp now turns his attentions to that ultimate goal as he heads to France for the final two races of the year.
Victory in Lillehammer means Mapp sits 34 points clear of Latvia’s Arturs Klots and a further 31 points ahead of Balk prior to a decisive double header on March 23 and 24.
If he can keep his rivals at bay in La Plagne the 45-year-old would be celebrating his second overall crown following his maiden triumph back in 2017/18. He won silver last season and in 2020, 2016 and 2015 and he claimed bronze in 2022 and 2019.
