Category: Uncategorized

Skeleton Pilot Jeff Bauer Lives His Olympic Dream in Luxembourg

January 16, 2019 — By Chrescht Beneké

With his results at the time, Luxembourg-American Jeff Bauer could already have competed in the 2018 Olympic Games, but he lacked the necessary passport. He has since obtained Luxembourg citizenship and is determined to pursue the next Games—even though, at 48, he would potentially set an age record for an Olympic skeleton athlete.

The energetic athlete was born in the United States in 1973. Because of his father’s and grandfather’s work, however, Jeff Bauer spent ten years in Luxembourg and even played for the Luxembourg national youth basketball team. He discovered skeleton just over four years ago, but immediately threw himself headfirst into his new sport, the ice tracks, and an enormous challenge. Reaching speeds of around 135 kilometers per hour, he paid for his intensive introduction to this adrenaline-filled sport with numerous bruises—but also with steady improvement.

He is pleased with his results in recent years in the Intercontinental Cup, one level below the top World Cup circuit. “This season, I’ve already had some good results: tenth out of twenty in Park City, and eighth out of fifteen in Lake Placid, which is my best result so far.”

In preparation for the highlight of his season—the World Championships on March 7 and 8 in Whistler, Canada—he will race again in Park City and Lake Placid over the next two weeks. His competitors include athletes with World Cup experience from winter sports nations such as Germany, Austria, and Italy, as well as participants from countries such as Israel, New Zealand, Korea, Ireland, Puerto Rico, and Luxembourg.

Jeff Bauer does not want to predict a specific finishing position for his major goal, the World Championships: “I want to have great races and continue improving on the track. The course is very difficult—the fastest and one of the most dangerous in the world. I want to achieve a respectable time compared with the many competitors from the World Cup and beat my times from previous races.”

He is not yet ready to focus too strongly on the 2022 Olympics: “Qualifying again is possible if I keep improving as I did last year. But for now, I’m taking it one race at a time and one season at a time. If I qualify again, I’ll be 48, older than the current record holder, Kazuhiro Koshi, who was 45.”