From Altenberg, GER
(December 21, 2023) – Viktoria Hansova avenged a prior day’s defeat by German teammate Corinna Leipold to win the final Europe Cup women’s skeleton gold medal of the 2023 calendar year.
Leipold led Hansova by .19 after the first heat, but had Great Britain’s Tabitha Stoecker and Amelia Coltman both without shoutign distance in the hunt for medals.
In the second heat, Coltman out-slid Stoecker to take the lead and guarantee herself a medal. Hansova was next, and the German bettered her first slide time by .08 to take the lead and put the pressure on Leipold.
Leipold’s second start was significantly quicker than her first and early on in her second run, like Hansova, she was quicker at the splits above the Kreisel.
However, Leipold’s second half of her slide was just a little messier and while it was enough to secure a German one-two on the podium, it handed the gold medal to Hansova by .12.
Coltman’s second effort was the quickest run of the second heat and enough to give her bronze, .02 out of silver and just .14 out of gold.
Stoecker finished fourth, ahead of Germany’s Hanna Staub and Sarah Schwab in fifth and sixth.
The United States put together a good showing in Altenberg. Katie Uhlaender was 13th after the first heat, but had a top six second run to move up to eighth place. Teammate Mystique Ro finished 11th for her best finish in Altenberg in a field of over 20 sliders, while Michelle Toukan finished 19th in her second ever race in Altenberg.
Canada’s Grace Dafoe had a strong tenth place finish in Altenberg, her best ever finish on that track, while Freya Tarbit, Isabella Fassnidge, and Ashlyn Bland finished 12th, 16th, and 20th respectively for Great Britain.
Lichtenstein’s Katharina Eigenmann moved up from 26th to finish 24th.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Finish |
| 1 | Viktoria Hansova | GER | 4 | 5.75 | 5.66 | 59.19 | 59.11 | 1:58.30 |
| 2 | Corinna Leipold | GER | 12 | 5.85 | 5.74 | 59.00 | 59.42 | 1:58.42 |
| 3 | Amelia Coltman | GBR | 21 | 5.65 | 5.65 | 59.34 | 59.10 | 1:58.44 |
| 4 | Tabitha Stoecker | GER | 24 | 5.37 | 5.42 | 59.23 | 59.88 | 1:59.11 |
| 5 | Hanna Staub | GER | 5 | 5.89 | 5.86 | 59.76 | 59.43 | 1:59.19 |
| 6 | Sarah Schwab | GER | 13 | 5.82 | 5.73 | 59.59 | 59.65 | 1:59.24 |
| 7 | Annia Unterscheider | AUT | 25 | 5.92 | 5.87 | 60.34 | 59.26 | 1:59.60 |
| 8 | Katie Uhlaender | USA | 23 | 6.97 | 6.10 | 60.42 | 59.53 | 1:59.95 |
| 9 | Stefanie Votz | GER | 11 | 6.25 | 6.24 | 59.67 | 60.31 | 1:59.98 |
| 10 | Grace Dafoe | CAN | 2 | 5.98 | 5.96 | 59.82 | 60.45 | 2:00.27 |
| 11 | Mystique Ro | USA | 20 | 5.42 | 5.47 | 60.06 | 60.27 | 2:00.33 |
| 12 | Freya Tarbit | GBR | 30 | 5.63 | 5.62 | 60.63 | 59.74 | 2:00.37 |
| 13 | Julia Simmchen | SUI | 28 | 6.05 | 6.00 | 60.56 | 59.84 | 2:00.40 |
| 14 | Julia Erlacher | AUT | 17 | 5.51 | 5.55 | 60.17 | 60.29 | 2:00.46 |
| 14 | Darta Zunte | EST | 26 | 5.89 | 5.79 | 60.75 | 59.71 | 2:00.46 |
| 16 | Isabella Fassnidge | GBR | 3 | 5.70 | 5.77 | 59.91 | 60.75 | 2:00.66 |
| 17 | Aline Pelckmans | BEL | 22 | 5.81 | 5.87 | 60.98 | 59.87 | 2:00.85 |
| 18 | Siji Song | CHN | 10 | 5.75 | 5.88 | 60.65 | 60.31 | 2:00.96 |
| 19 | Michelle Toukan | USA | 6 | 5.67 | 5.59 | 60.78 | 60.25 | 2:01.03 |
| 20 | Ashlyn Bland | GBR | 9 | 5.73 | 5.68 | 60.49 | 60.58 | 2:01.07 |
| 21 | Tirza Lara | CAN | 19 | 6.01 | 6.04 | 61.03 | 60.53 | 2:01.56 |
| 22 | Yangqi Zhu | CHN | 16 | 5.68 | 5.90 | 61.22 | 60.56 | 2:01.78 |
| 23 | Anna Saulite | AUT | 27 | 6.00 | 6.06 | 61.43 | 60.94 | 2:02.37 |
| 24 | Katharina Eigenmann | LIE | 29 | 6.26 | 6.33 | 61.73 | 60.77 | 2:02.50 |
| 25 | Angel Osakue | ITA | 8 | 6.02 | 5.95 | 61.79 | 61.89 | 2:03.68 |
| 26 | Nanna Johansen | DEN | 15 | 6.13 | 62.23 | |||
| 27 | Viktoria Dönicke | GER | 7 | 5.50 | 62.26 | |||
| 28 | Annelies van Dijk | NED | 14 | 5.80 | 62.93 | |||
| 29 | Ana Torres Quevedo | ESP | 1 | 6.71 | 64.08 | |||
| 30 | Alessia Gatti | ITA | 18 | 5.50 | 64.19 |
