Nov. 18, 2007 — Winter sports nuts were likely surprised Friday when officials at the infamous Altenberg skeleton track in Altenberg, Germany, posted a video of one of the up-and-comers on the sled-like racer — Virgin Islands Playground cover girl Alexa Putnam of St. John.
Training in Germany for her second World Cup season, Putnam represents the Virgin Islands in skeleton racing, very popular in Europe, Canada and Japan. Over 55 million television viewers watched the sport last season, broadcast live in many countries.
Putnam is also the 2007 Virgin Island Playground cover girl. Last April, during a home visit, she raised over $1,000 for the Virgin Islands Special Olympics by signing her cover picture for arriving visitors at Cyril E. King Airport.
She completed her maiden World Cup season last year, ending in February with a spectacular race where she finished ahead of at least one athlete from every country participating, including beating an American, German and Canadian athletes.
Putnam trained for the Torino Olympic trials here in the Islands. After pleasantly surprising the winter sports world with her World Cup qualification, the German national team allowed her to train and travel with their program.
"To support Putnam is more than fun because of her positive behavior. She's everybody's sunshine," the secretary general of the German Skeleton and Bobsled Federation said recently.
During this past off-season from racing she was invited to be a guest student at a local German high school.
In September she took the German National upper-level exams, required for all Germans who want to matriculate into the 12th grade — all in German. She passed.
So, back in the 12th grade — she graduated from the Gifft Hill School on St. John in 2006 — she is in a special program designed for young German national team alpine sport athletes who compete and study at the same time.
Putnam trains nearly year-around in Berchtesgaden, Germany. She races for the Virgin Islands but is getting world-class coaching from the Germans. So far this year, the traditional Alpine sport countries — Austria, Finland, Sweden, and France — have not been able to qualify ahead of Putnam and the V.I.
The Altenberg track is known for its difficulty and danger, and their website video is usually reserved for victory runs or spectacular crashes. Not this time.
Check out Putnam's run at bobbahn-altenberg.de.
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