From Igls, AUT
(February 10, 2023) – It’s not often that Kimberley Bos finds herself with what is considered a “surprising” medal anymore. The defending World Cup champion and Olympic bronze medalist has been a perpetual medal contender over the last few seasons and has been in the hunt for hardware more times than she hasn’t been.
However on Friday she put together quite possibly her most impressive slide yet as she came from 11th in the first heat to win gold in Igls.
Bos overcame a tremendously bad start in the first heat where she popped the groove and nearly hit the wall of the men’s luge start. The remainder of that run was clean and relatively quick, as the she ended her heat tied with USA’s Kelly Curtis for 11th, seemingly well out of medal contention.
But then Bos took her second run. Off the top she was quick, and the slide was as perfect as you could ask for as she destroyed the track record and became the only woman to ever slide Igls in under 53 seconds. After that she watched from the leader’s box as slider after slider came down and none of them were anywhere near Bos’s time.
The final woman between Bos and gold was American Hallie Clarke. Clarke, who had broken the existing track record in the first heat by .29, pushed off quick and had a slide that was clean, quick, and competitive. However Bos’s mammoth second effort was far too much to overcome and Clarke finished her run with a silver.
The win for Bos gave her a fourth World Cup gold medal, but first outside of Winterberg. The silver for Clarke was her second on the second and came in only her second ever visit to Igls.
Belgium’s Kim Meylemans, who had skipped the first half of the season due to injuries sustained in pre-season sliding in Whistler, rallied from a tie for fifth in the first heat to win bronze, the second of her career.
Canada’s Mimi Rahneva finished the race tied for fourth with Austria’s Janine Flock. Great Britain’s Laura Deas, like Bos, put down a huge second run and jumped from 13th in the first heat to finish sixth.
Kelly Curtis finished 13th for the United States, but was only .06 out of a top ten finish. Teammate Kendall Wesenberg, who has struggled with back issues all season and is anticipating surgery, finished 18th.
Great Britain’s Brogan Crowley had a disappointing second effort and fell out of the top ten to 12th, while Canada’s Jane Channell picked up two spots in her second heat to finish 14th.
The track in Igls was quicker than it has ever been, and outside from Bos’s big second effort over half the field slid under the old track record. In the first heat the top nine athletes (Clarke, Zhao, Flock, Rahneva, Meyelmans, Crowley, Kreher, Hermann, and Li) were quicker than the 53.47 set by Flock in 202. In the second run, Channell, Deas, Bos, and Meylemans also bested that time.
With one race to go in the IBSF World Cup season, Tina Hermann holds a 27 point lead over Kimberley Bos in the overall standings. Mimi Rahneva is third, 31 points behind Bos and 39 points ahead of Susanne Kreher in fourth. Kelly Curtis is fifth overall.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Kimberley Bos | NED | 6 | 5.38 | 5.34 | 53.48 | 52.87 | 1:46.35 |
| 2 | Hallie Clarke | USA | 14 | 5.38 | 5.38 | 53.18 | 53.45 | 1:46.63 |
| 3 | Kim Meylemans | BEL | 19 | 5.42 | 5.38 | 53.37 | 53.31 | 1:46.68 |
| 4 | Mirela Rahneva | CAN | 11 | 5.42 | 5.38 | 53.30 | 53.40 | 1:46.70 |
| 4 | Janine Flock | AUT | 2 | 5.55 | 5.50 | 53.26 | 53.44 | 1:46.70 |
| 6 | Laura Deas | GBR | 8 | 5.34 | 5.32 | 53.54 | 53.24 | 1:46.78 |
| 7 | Susanne Kreher | GER | 13 | 5.43 | 5.41 | 53.41 | 53.51 | 1:46.92 |
| 8 | Dan Zhao | CHN | 16 | 5.42 | 5.45 | 53.25 | 53.69 | 1:46.94 |
| 9 | Valentina Margaglio | ITA | 18 | 5.23 | 5.26 | 53.60 | 53.38 | 1:46.98 |
| 10 | Tina Hermann | GER | 7 | 5.63 | 5.62 | 53.42 | 53.59 | 1:47.01 |
| 11 | Hannah Neise | GER | 5 | 5.63 | 5.57 | 53.47 | 53.58 | 1:47.05 |
| 12 | Brogan Crowley | GBR | 9 | 5.37 | 5.37 | 53.37 | 53.69 | 1:47.06 |
| 13 | Kelly Curtis | USA | 10 | 5.43 | 5.43 | 53.48 | 53.59 | 1:47.07 |
| 14 | Jane Channell | CAN | 12 | 5.31 | 5.34 | 53.70 | 53.39 | 1:47.09 |
| 15 | Yuxi Li | CHN | 1 | 5.46 | 5.49 | 53.45 | 53.67 | 1:47.12 |
| 16 | Nicole Silveira | BRA | 15 | 5.52 | 5.51 | 53.71 | 53.81 | 1:47.52 |
| 17 | Anna Fernstädt | CZE | 4 | 5.68 | 5.76 | 53.82 | 53.82 | 1:47.64 |
| 18 | Kendall Wesenberg | USA | 17 | 5.63 | 5.67 | 53.79 | 53.91 | 1:47.70 |
| 19 | Alesandra Fumagalli | ITA | 3 | 5.39 | 5.35 | 53.69 | 54.23 | 1:47.92 |
