Sandra Kiriasis

Sandra Kiriasis
Personal information
Nationality	German
Born	4 January 1975 (age 49); Dresden, East Germany
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	81 kg (179 lb; 12.8 st)
Sport
Country	Germany
Sport	Bobsleigh
Event	2-woman
Club	RSG Hochsauerland
Retired	2014
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals
Medal record
Women's bobsleigh
Representing Germany
Olympic Games
World Championships
World Cup Championships
European Championships

Sandra Kiriasis (née Prokoff; born 4 January 1975 in Dresden) is a German former bobsledder who has competed from 2000 to 2014.

At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City she won silver in the two-woman event together with teammate Ulrike Holzner. She also competed in the bobsleigh events at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, where Kiriasis (married in late 2004) won gold in the two-woman event with teammate Anja Schneiderheinze. She finished fourth in the two-woman event at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Kiriasis also won eight medals at the FIBT World Championships with five golds (Two-woman: 2005, 2007, 2008; Mixed team: 2007, 2008, 2009) and two silvers (Two-woman: 2003, 2004). She won the overall two-woman Bobsleigh World Cup in 2003-4, 2004–5, 2005–6, 2006-7, 2007-8, 2008-9, 2009–10, 2010–11 and won a record 43 World Cup races in total.

Kiriasis retired from the sport after the 2014 Winter Olympics.^[2] In July 2014 Kiriasis joined basketball team Nürnberger BC as a fitness coach.^[3] In 2017 she was appointed as driving coach for the Jamaican women's bobsleigh team ahead of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, helping them to qualify for the Olympics for the first time.^[4]^[5] However, she parted company with the Jamaica Bobsleigh Federation days ahead of the start of bobsleigh training at the Games after she was told she would be demoted from her position as driver coach to the role of track and performance analyst.^[6]^[7]

Career highlights

Olympic Winter Games: 2002 – Salt Lake City, 2nd with Ulrike Holzner; 2006 – Turin, 1st with Anja Schneiderheinze; 2018 – PyeongChang, Former coach of the women's Jamaican bobsled team.
World Championships: 2003 – Winterberg, 2nd with Ulrike Holzner; 2004 – Königssee, 2nd with Anja Schneiderheinze; 2005 – Calgary, 1st with Anja Schneiderheinze; 2007 – St. Moritz, 1st with Romy Logsch; 2008 – Altenberg, 1st with Romy Logsch
European Championships: 2005 – Altenberg, 2nd with Anja Schneiderheinze; 2006 – St. Moritz, 1st with Berit Wiacker; 2007 – Cortina d'Ampezzo, 1st with Romy Logsch; 2008 – Cesana, 1st with Berit Wiacker; 2009 – St. Moritz, 1st with Berit Wiacker
World Cup Single Events: 2000/2001 – Winterberg, 2nd with Daniela Clobes; 2000/2001 – Winterberg, 3rd with Daniela Clobes; 2000/2001 – Igls, 2nd with Kerstin Szymkowiak; 2000/2001 – Igls, 2nd with Kerstin Szymkowiak; 2000/2001 – Park City, 1st with Ulrike Holzner; 2001/2002 – Winterberg, 1st with Ulrike Holzner; 2001/2002 – Winterberg, 1st with Ulrike Holzner; 2001/2002 – Königssee, 1st with Nicole Herschmann; 2001/2002 – Igls, 1st with Ulrike Holzner; 2001/2002 – Igls, 1st with Nicole Herschmann; 2001/2002 – Calgary, 3rd with Ulrike Holzner; 2001/2002 – Calgary, 3rd with Ulrike Holzner; 2002/2003 – Calgary, 2nd with Ulrike Holzner; 2002/2003 – Calgary, 1st with Ulrike Holzner; 2002/2003 – Park City, 1st with Nicole Herschmann; 2002/2003 – Park City, 1st with Ulrike Holzner; 2002/2003 – Lake Placid, 1st with Ulrike Holzner; 2002/2003 – Lake Placid, 1st with Nicole Herschmann; 2002/2003 – Igls, 2nd with Nicole Herschmann; 2002/2003 – Igls, 2nd with Ulrike Holzner; 2003/2004 – Calgary, 1st with Anja Schneiderheinze; 2003/2004 – Calgary, 1st with Janine Tischer; 2003/2004 – Lake Placid, 1st with Anja Schneiderheinze; 2003/2004 – Lake Placid, 2nd with Janine Tischer; 2003/2004 – Lillehammer, 1st with Anja Schneiderheinze; 2003/2004 – Lillehammer, 1st with Berit Wiacker; 2004/2005 – Winterberg, 1st with Anja Schneiderheinze; 2004/2005 – Altenberg, 2nd with Anja Schneiderheinze; 2004/2005 – Igls, 1st with Berit Wiacker; 2004/2005 – Cortina d'Ampezzo, 1st with Berit Wiacker; 2004/2005 – Cesana, 1st with Berit Wiacker; 2004/2005 – Lake Placid, 1st with Anja Schneiderheinze; 2005/2006 – Calgary, 1st with Anja Schneiderheinze; 2005/2006 – Lake Placid, 1st with Anja Schneiderheinze; 2005/2006 – Igls, 1st with Berit Wiacker; 2005/2006 – Cortina d'Ampezzo, 1st with Anja Schneiderheinze; 2005/2006 – Königssee, 3rd with Anja Schneiderheinze; 2005/2006 – St. Moritz, 2nd with Berit Wiacker; 2006/2007 – Calgary, 3rd with Romy Logsch; 2006/2007 – Lake Placid, 3rd with Anja Schneiderheinze; 2006/2007 – Cortina d'Ampezzo, 1st with Romy Logsch; 2006/2007 – Igls, 1st with Anja Schneiderheinze; 2006/2007 – Cesana, 1st with Anja Schneiderheinze; 2006/2007 – Winterberg, 1st with Romy Logsch; 2006/2007 – Königssee, 1st with Berit Wiacker; 2007/2008 – Calgary, 3rd with Berit Wiacker; 2007/2008 – Park City, 1st with Romy Logsch; 2007/2008 – Lake Placid, 1st with Romy Logsch; 2007/2008 – Cortina d'Ampezzo, 1st with Romy Logsch; 2007/2008 – Cesana, 3rd with Berit Wiacker; 2007/2008 – St. Moritz, 1st with Romy Logsch; 2007/2008 – Königssee, 2nd with Berit Wiacker; 2007/2008 – Winterberg, 1st with Berit Wiacker; 2008/2009 – Winterberg, 2nd with Romy Logsch; 2008/2009 – Altenberg, 1st with Berit Wiacker; 2008/2009 – Igls, 3rd with Romy Logsch; 2008/2009 – Königssee, 2nd with Romy Logsch; 2008/2009 – St. Moritz, 1st with Berit Wiacker; 2008/2009 – St. Moritz, 1st with Berit Wiacker; 2008/2009 – Park City, 3rd with Patricia Polifka

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d FIBT-Bobsleigh profile^{[permanent dead link]}, accessed 9 December 2010
^ "Kiriasis kritisiert Bob-Verband für Machata-Sperre: "Beschämend und lächerlich"" [Kiriasis criticised Bobsleigh Association for Machata ban: "Shameful and Ridiculous"]. Freie Presse (Saxony) (in German). 4 March 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
^ "Sandra Kiriasis bringt Nürnbergs Basketballer in Form" [Sandra Kiriasis brings Nuremberg Basketball players into shape]. 2. Basketball Bundesliga (in German). 25 July 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
^ Scott, Livingston (13 December 2017). "Bobsleigh Team Has Top Level Support". Jamaica Gleaner. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
^ Keyser, Hannah (16 January 2018). "Thirty Years After Cool Runnings, Jamaican Women Qualify For Olympic Bobsled". Deadspin. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
^ Thompson, Anna (14 February 2018). "Winter Olympics: Jamaica's women's bobsleigh coach Sandra Kiriasis quits". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
^ Grohmann, Karolos (15 February 2018). Stutchbury, Greg (ed.). "Bobsleigh: No reason given for my Jamaica team demotion, says Kiriasis". reuters.com. Retrieved 25 February 2018.

[FIBTSandraKiriasis-1] FIBT-Bobsleigh profile^{[permanent dead link]}, accessed 9 December 2010

[2] "Kiriasis kritisiert Bob-Verband für Machata-Sperre: "Beschämend und lächerlich"" [Kiriasis criticised Bobsleigh Association for Machata ban: "Shameful and Ridiculous"]. Freie Presse (Saxony) (in German). 4 March 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.

[3] "Sandra Kiriasis bringt Nürnbergs Basketballer in Form" [Sandra Kiriasis brings Nuremberg Basketball players into shape]. 2. Basketball Bundesliga (in German). 25 July 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.

[4] Scott, Livingston (13 December 2017). "Bobsleigh Team Has Top Level Support". Jamaica Gleaner. Retrieved 21 January 2018.

[5] Keyser, Hannah (16 January 2018). "Thirty Years After Cool Runnings, Jamaican Women Qualify For Olympic Bobsled". Deadspin. Retrieved 21 January 2018.

[6] Thompson, Anna (14 February 2018). "Winter Olympics: Jamaica's women's bobsleigh coach Sandra Kiriasis quits". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 25 February 2018.

[7] Grohmann, Karolos (15 February 2018). Stutchbury, Greg (ed.). "Bobsleigh: No reason given for my Jamaica team demotion, says Kiriasis". reuters.com. Retrieved 25 February 2018.

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