Elisabeth_Vathje

Elisabeth Maier

Elisabeth Maier

Canadian former skeleton bobsleigh racer

Elisabeth Maier (née Vathje) (born March 17, 1994, in Calgary, Alberta) is a retired Canadian skeleton racer. In 2008, she was encouraged to try sliding sports by her father, who had shared an airplane trip with members of the Canadian luge team, but as a 14-year-old, she was too young to train bobsleigh, so she tried out for skeleton instead.[1] She used a Bromley sled.[2] Vathje was named one of the three women to represent Canada in skeleton at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang[3] after finishing third in the World Cup season standings for 2017–18.[4] She is married to Austrian bobsleigh driver Benjamin Maier.[5] She retired in 2022 after being left off the Canadian team for the 2021–22 season.[6]

Quick Facts Personal information, Born ...

Notable results

Vathje's first international race was on the North American Cup in 2010, at Lake Placid, where she finished 8th. The following season, she finished 16th in her first Junior World Championships and continued to race on the North American circuit, taking her first international gold at Lake Placid in 2013. Vathje was promoted to the Intercontinental Cup during the 2013–14 season, and won a silver medal at her fourth Junior Worlds in Winterberg, Germany, earning her a promotion to the World Cup squad.[2][1]

In the 2014–15 World Cup season, her first on the top level of international sliding, Vathje had five podium finishes including one gold medal, at Calgary, and three silvers, in Lake Placid, St. Moritz and Igls. She subsequently took home gold at races in Whistler (2016) and Winterberg (2017), as well as several additional podium finishes.[2]

Vathje finished the 2017–18 season with 1470 points, ranking third, her best season in the overall World Cup rankings.[4]

References

  1. [1]
    "Elisabeth Vathje (athlete profile)". Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton. Retrieved 2017-12-20.
  2. [2]
    "Elisabeth VATHJE". International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation. Retrieved 2017-12-20.
  3. [3]
    "Canadian bobsleigh and skeleton athletes nominated for 2018 Olympic Winter Games" (Press release). Canadian Olympic Committee. January 24, 2018. Retrieved 2018-01-25.
  4. [4]
    "Standings (2017/2018) (Women's skeleton) (BMW IBSF World Cup)". International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation. Retrieved 2018-01-25.
  5. [5]
    "Elisabeth Vathje and Benjamin Maier celebrate wedding on Hawaii" (Press release). International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation. 14 March 2018. Retrieved 2018-03-14.
  6. [6]
    "Elisabeth Maier and Karlien Sleper end their careers" (Press release). International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation. 1 May 2022. Retrieved 2022-05-08.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Elisabeth_Vathje, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.