Ivo Ferriani says there is work to be done to bring female competitor numbers up to previous levels ©Getty Images

Ivo Ferriani – President of the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) – has voiced concern over falling levels of female bobsleigh competitors this season.

Canada's Kaillie Humphries will make history by piloting an all-female four-man bobsleigh against male opposition at this weekend's World Cup in Lake Placid, but only 12 female crews in the two-woman bob – the only Olympic category for women – have been involved in the three races so far in 2015-16.

That is eight less than started last season, even taking into account the usual post-Olympic dip in activity.

Eleven nations were involved in the two-woman World Cup last season.

This year the figure is seven – Canada, United States, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Great Britain and Romania – with Russia, Netherlands, Switzerland and Brazil absent.

“This year for some reason the entries in the World Cup are down for women,” Ferriani told insidethegames.

“The data is partly to do with economic causes, with sports in some countries being affected.

"And in some cases there is team strategy involved.

“We are always focussed on having more and more participants so of course we have some work we need to do here.

“Although we have a great registration for the Europe Cup.”

Kaillie Humphries, who will pilot the first all-female four-man bob to take on male opposition at tomorrow's World Cup in Lake Placid, signals another World Cup win last month in the two-woman bob. But the FIBT President, Ivo Ferriani, has concerns about falling levels of female competitors at the top level ©Getty Images
Kaillie Humphries, who will pilot the first all-female four-man bob to take on male opposition at the World Cup in Lake Placid, signals another World Cup win last month in the two-woman bob ©Getty Images

A first-ever exhibition four-woman race will take place at the World Championships in Igls, Austria, on February 21.

Humphries hopes four-woman will eventually be an Olympic event, after two-woman bobsleigh debuted at the Salt Lake City Games in 2002.

“The first step was proving that we could drive the four-man sled, which is what Elana [Meyers Taylor] and I did on the circuit last year,” Humphries told the Toronto Sun.

“So the whole goal of us doing everything is for us to be able to turn women’s four-man into an Olympic event.”

Ferriani added: “Kaillie is a great ambassador for women in sport.

"She is a pioneer as a competitor.

“We will be evaluating the possibilities for the four-woman bob very closely, although if you are talking to me about the Olympics it is too soon to decide on what is the right direction.

“We have a lot of work to do on this, and we want to analyse all the available data.

“This option is available to all the Federations.

“But we want to consider all the evidence – we need to look at the technical information, the logistics, recruitment. 

 “We must make a global analysis in terms of costs, numbers of competitors and the impact of the logistics involved.

“There are a lot of components which need to be evaluated.”