From Altenberg, GER
(February 16, 2024) – A week after being left off Germany’s 2024 World Championships skeleton team, Tina Hermann showed no signs of letting up as she won the penultimate race of the 2023/2024 IBSF World Cup season in Altenberg.
Hermann led teammate Susanne Kreher by .11 after the first heat in warm conditions that led to quickly deteriorating ice, with Canada’s Mimi Rahneva in third just .19 out of the lead with nobody else within a quarter of a second of the lead.
In the second heat, as the track began to go away again, USA’s Mystique Ro set the quick start of the race to take the lead from World Cup leader Kimberley Bos, who had been tenth after the first heat. Ro held that spot as Kim Meylemans, Jacqueline Pfeifer, and Hallie Clarke all struggled to find speed on a greatly slowing track.
Rahneva, looking for her third medal of the season had a strong push of her own and hung with Ro throughout the length of her slide, and had the lead out of the famous Kreisel curve. However, she crossed the line just .01 behind Ro, and that guaranteed a medal for Ro.
Kreher, the reigning world champion, held her position as she took the lead from Ro with just Hermann to go.
By the time Hermann pushed off the top the track was officially “done”. Her push was .36 off of the pace by Kreher as she found herself behind her teammate early on. But Hermann had been unbeatable in the last six women’s skeleton races held in Altenberg, including a pair of world titles in 2020 and 2021 and she wasn’t about to let that streak end. Hermann’s second slide was only the 16th quickest thanks to the slowing track, but enough to win by a tenth of a second over Kreher.
The win was Hermann’s second of the season, and her third top five in seven races.
For Kreher, the silver medal was her first on the season. Ro’s bronze medal was her third medal of the year after winning silvers in La Plagne and Lillehammer.
Rahneva missed out on the podium by that hundredth of a second to finish fourth, her fourth top five of the season.
Kimberley Bos put down a really quick slide as the track began to slow up and it was enough to move up from tenth in the first heat to fifth, just ahead of Germany’s Jacqueline Pfeifer in sixth place.
The United States’ Katie Uhlaender slid to a 11th place finish on the track where she won the 2008 World Championships silver medal. Her second run was .71 faster than her first as she missed a top ten by only .11. Teammate Sara Roderick had a late draw and not great ice and despite a decent slide finished 26th and missed the second heat.
Canada’s Clarke, who was fourth in the first heat, had a tough second run and fell to outside of the top 20 in 12th. Teammate Jane Channell was over a full second quicker in her second run, which was enough to catapult her from 21st in the first heat to 17th.
Just ahead of Channel were Anna Fernstädt and Alessandra Fumagalli, who matched downtimes in both the first and second heat. Fernstädt, sliding with a heavy heart after the loss of her father earlier in the week, slid into the lead in the second heat and had Fumagalli tie her one run later. The duo’s efforts were enough to move up from 22nd to 15th.
Tabitha Stoecker led the way for the British program with a tenth place effort, .06 behind Valentina Margaglio in ninth. Amelia Coltman had a quick second run, save for one hard hit that scrubbed off a quarter of a second, on her way to a 14th place finish. Freya Tarbit fell from 17th to 20th in the second heat.
With one race to go in the IBSF World Cup, Kimberley Bos has a nearly insurmountable lead over Kim Meylemans of 216 points, meaning Bos just needs to finish 30th or better in the season finale to clinch the title no matter what Meylemans does. Tina Hermann is third, only 16 points out of second. Valentina Margaglio and Janine Flock are fourth and fifth, respectively.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Tina Hermann | GER | 4 | 5.87 | 5.89 | 57.90 | 58.56 | 1:56.46 |
| 2 | Susanne Kreher | GER | 6 | 5.59 | 5.53 | 58.01 | 58.55 | 1:56.56 |
| 3 | Mystique Ro | USA | 15 | 5.35 | 5.34 | 58.36 | 58.34 | 1:56.70 |
| 4 | Mirela Rahneva | CAN | 13 | 5.43 | 5.48 | 58.09 | 58.62 | 1:56.71 |
| 5 | Kimberley Bos | NED | 5 | 5.55 | 5.58 | 58.49 | 58.30 | 1:56.79 |
| 6 | Jacqueline Pfeifer | GER | 9 | 5.83 | 5.73 | 58.31 | 58.52 | 1:56.83 |
| 7 | Janine Flock | AUT | 8 | 5.84 | 5.82 | 58.40 | 58.49 | 1:56.89 |
| 8 | Hannah Neise | GER | 12 | 5.68 | 5.73 | 58.54 | 58.46 | 1:57.00 |
| 9 | Valentina Margaglio | ITA | 10 | 5.41 | 5.41 | 58.46 | 58.55 | 1:57.01 |
| 10 | Tabitha Stoecker | GBR | 16 | 5.40 | 5.36 | 58.88 | 58.18 | 1:57.06 |
| 11 | Katie Uhlaender | USA | 21 | 5.71 | 5.71 | 58.94 | 58.23 | 1:57.17 |
| 12 | Hallie Clarke | CAN | 7 | 5.55 | 5.55 | 58.23 | 59.03 | 1:57.26 |
| 13 | Amelia Coltman | GBR | 18 | 5.60 | 5.61 | 58.97 | 58.34 | 1:57.31 |
| 14 | Kim Meylemans | BEL | 11 | 5.56 | 5.54 | 58.33 | 59.03 | 1:57.36 |
| 15 | Alessandra Fumagalli | ITA | 24 | 5.46 | 5.51 | 59.55 | 57.97 | 1:57.52 |
| 15 | Anna Fernstädt | CZE | 25 | 5.79 | 5.81 | 59.55 | 57.97 | 1:57.52 |
| 17 | Jane Channell | CAN | 22 | 5.44 | 5.46 | 59.36 | 58.34 | 1:57.70 |
| 18 | Dan Zhao | CHN | 14 | 5.58 | 5.55 | 59.25 | 58.48 | 1:57.73 |
| 19 | Yuxi Li | CHN | 20 | 5.61 | 5.63 | 59.15 | 58.67 | 1:57.82 |
| 20 | Freya Tarbit | GBR | 23 | 5.56 | 5.70 | 59.14 | 58.73 | 1:57.87 |
| 21 | Julia Simmchen | SUI | 1 | 5.98 | 5.97 | 58.95 | 59.22 | 1:58.17 |
| 22 | Alessia Crippa | ITA | 19 | 5.47 | 5.45 | 59.82 | 59.65 | 1:58.34 |
| 23 | Annia Unterschedier | AUT | 3 | 5.96 | 5.91 | 59.02 | 59.49 | 1:58.51 |
| 24 | Nicole Silveira | BRA | 17 | 5.75 | 5.72 | 59.23 | 59.52 | 1:58.75 |
| 25 | Julia Erlacher | AUT | 29 | 5.49 | 5.51 | 59.92 | 59.65 | 1:59.57 |
| 26 | Sara Roderick | USA | 26 | 5.46 | 60.17 | |||
| 27 | Kellie Delka | PUR | 27 | 5.80 | 60.33 | |||
| 28 | Sara Schmied | SUI | 28 | 5.63 | 60.40 | |||
| 29 | Aline Pelckmans | BEL | 30 | 5.77 | 60.69 | |||
| 30 | Katharina Eigenmann | LIE | 32 | 6.14 | 61.27 | |||
| 31 | Ana Torres Quevedo | ESP | 2 | 6.52 | 61.46 | |||
| 32 | Laura Vargas | COL | 31 | 6.08 | 62.13 |
