From Lake Placid, USA
(December 2, 2022) – France’s Agathe Bessard won her first gold of the 2022/2023 IBSF season, edging out Canada’s Natalie Coughlin for top honors.
Bessard opened up a .77 second advantage over Coughlin in the first heat, with Tirza Lara in third, nearly a full second off the pace.
On the second run It was Bessard’s teammate Paige Alford setting the quick time of the heat with a run that would eventually leave her only .01 out of the medals. Lara held onto her spot with her second run while Coughlin was only .05 off of Alford’s pace to move into the lead with Bessard to go.
Bessard had trouble off the top, but gathered it up and was able to slide down just quick enough to win gold by .17 over Coughlin.
The win Bessard was her first in North America. She’d previously won gold in her most recent European Cup race in the 2021/2022 season.
For the Canadians, both Coughlin and Lara’s finishes were personal bests. The medal for Lara was her first.
Alford finished fourth, ahead of Columbia’s Laura Vargas in fifth. The US Virgin Islands’ Katie Tannenbaum rounded out the top six.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Finish |
| 1 | Agathe Bessard | FRA | 6 | 5.57 | 6.40 | 56.78 | 58.88 | 1:55.66 |
| 2 | Natalie Coughlin | CAN | 3 | 5.48 | 5.43 | 57.55 | 58.28 | 1:55.83 |
| 3 | Tirza Lara | CAN | 1 | 5.80 | 5.84 | 57.71 | 58.32 | 1:56.03 |
| 4 | Paige Alford | FRA | 2 | 5.83 | 5.79 | 57.81 | 58.23 | 1:56.04 |
| 5 | Laura Vargas | COL | 5 | 5.80 | 5.70 | 58.06 | 58.49 | 1:56.55 |
| 6 | Katie Tannenbaum | ISV | 4 | 5.79 | 5.83 | 58.58 | 58.38 | 1:56.96 |
| 7 | Shannon Galea | MLT | 7 | 5.94 | 5.89 | 58.89 | 59.14 | 1:58.03 |
