Vötter & Oberhofer Cruise to Park City Gold

From Park City, USA

(December 16, 2022) – Italy’s Andrea Vötter and Marion Oberhofer slid to a dominant victory in Park City, winning by well over a half of a second.

The Italians had just over a tenth of a second lead over Austria’s Selina Egle and Lara Kipp going into the second run, with Germany’s Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal and a couple of American sleds all seemingly in the hunt for medals.

But in the second heat it was Canadians Caitlin Nash and Natalie Corless putting down the run of the day, eventually second quickest. That was enough to keep them in the leader’s box past the two American teams of Summer Britcher and Emily Sweeney and Maya Chan and Reannyn Weiler. Eventually Degenhardt and Rosenthal picked off the Canadians and moved into the lead with two to go.

On their second run Egle and Kipp had a huge skid and wall hit that dropped them down the leaderboard and out of the medals. After that it was all academic for Vötter and Oberhofer, as they set the quickest ever run for a women’s doubles team in Park City to win by .603 over Degenhardt and Rosenthal. Nash and Corless finished third.

The win for the Italians was their second straight and enough to put them in the season point lead over Egle and Kipp by 20.

For the United States, Britcher and Sweeney finished fourth for the third straight race,  with Chan and Weiler one spot back in fifth. Egle and Kipp’s second run dropped them to sixth, while Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby finished seventh on the third American sled.

Romania’s Raluca Stramaturaru and Mihaela-Carmen Manolescu rounded out the field in eighth.

Results: