Stoecker Wins Gold, Ro Silver In 2nd Career Starts

From La Plagne, FRA

(December 8, 2023) – The IBSF World Cup made its return to La Plagne for the first time in a handful of years, and the French track that always seems to put on a good show did just that once again with two sliders winning medals for the very first time.

Olympic bronze medalist Kimberley Bos held the lead after the first heat in La Plagne, with Great Britain’s Tabitha Stoecker just behind in second. Back in fifth was the United States’ Mystique Ro, with a returning Jacqueline Pfeifer and Canada’s Jane Channell wedged in between.

In the second heat, Ro went off first and put down what appeared to be a relatively uneventful slide that put her into the lead ahead of Olympic gold medalist Hannah Neise. After Ro, neither Pfeifer or Channell could keep up, which gave Ro a guaranteed medal.

Stoecker went next. Her start was .02 off of Ro’s pace, and her downtime was .2 behind Ro’s, but the combined time was good enough to move Stoecker into the lead with only Bos still to come.

Bos’s start left her behind early, but in typical Kimberley Bos fashion she made up time on her way down the track. However a hard hit late on the exit of the Omega curve dropped Bos back, and the Dutch slider ran out of track to make up time with, giving Stoecker the gold medal and Ro the silver.

Both Stoecker and Ro were making their second career starts. Stoecker’s first race came in the 2022/2023 stop in Winterberg, while Ro’s came in the same season’s Altenberg race. Neither woman cracked the top ten in those events.

Bos, for her part, held onto third for a bronze medal. She finished just .01 ahead of Pfeifer, who was the top German athlete after spending the previous season on the now-defunct Intercontinental Cup.

Olympic champion Hannah Neise moved up one spot from seventh to fifth in her second run, while Italy’s Valentina Margaglio set the quick start of the race on her way to a 6th place finish.

Sara Roderick picked up .09 on her first start time and slid to an 17th place finish in her second World Cup start for the United States, up one spot from her first heat finish of 18th.

Great Britain’s Freya Tarbit finished in a tie for 14th with Czechia’s Anna Fernstädt. Teammate Amelia Coltman helped put all three British women in the top 20 with a 19th place finish.

Hallie Clarke snuck her way into the top ten with a tenth place finish for Canada, up from 13th in the first heat. Mimi Rahneva rounded out the Canadian effort in 18th.

Columbia’s Laura Vargas, Lichtenstein’s Katharina Eigenmann, and Malta’s Shannon Galea finished 27th, 29th, and 30th respectively.

The race was the first with a full field using the expanded quota rules, with 25 athletes getting a second run instead of 20, with full field of 32 athletes.

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