From Oberhof, GER
(February 18, 2024) – Julia Taubitz didn’t have the quickest run in either heat, but two consistent runs were enough to give her a gold medal in Oberhof.
Taubitz trailed Austria’s Madeleine Egle after the first heat, with Anna Berreiter in third, over a tenth out of the lead.
In the second heat, Berreiter put down what would be the quickest run of the heat to take the lead fom Switzerland’s Natalie Maag. Berreiter held that lead for about a minute and a half, as Taubitz slid into the lead, .051 up on Berreiter.
Egle’s second run looked to be relatively clean, but a few small skids late completely sank her downtime as she fell to third with the 11th fastest downtime of the heat.
That gave the victory to Taubitz, who had the third quickest run of the second heat, Berreiter took silver, and Egle bronze.
Behind them, Maag finished fourth, ahead of world champion Lisa Schulte in fifth and previous week’s gold medalist Merle Fräbel in sixth.
The United States’ Ashley Farquarson finished seventh as the top American. Her second run was enough to move her from 11th in the first heat up into the top ten.
Behind Farquharson it was a mixed bag of runs for her two teammates. Emily Sweeney entered the second heat in fifth but a few small mistakes compounded as she eventually finished 11th. Summer Britcher had a bumpy first run to put her in 15th, but then threw down the second quickest run of the second heat to move up to 14th.
Canada’s Trinity Ellis finished 17th.
With four races to go on the FIL World Cup calendar, Julia Taubitz has a lead of over 100 points ahead of Madeleine Egle. Egle has over 100 points over Anna Berreiter in third. Lisa Schulte and Ashley Farquharson rounds out the top five.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Julia Taubitz | GER | 14 | 7.673 | 7.695 | 41.978 | 42.448 | 1:24.426 |
| 2 | Anna Berreiter | GER | 12 | 7.638 | 7.613 | 42.064 | 42.413 | 1:24.447 |
| 3 | Madeleine Egle | AUT | 13 | 7.614 | 7.512 | 41.952 | 42.590 | 1:24.542 |
| 4 | Natalie Maag | SUI | 9 | 7.730 | 7.720 | 42.101 | 42.500 | 1:24.601 |
| 5 | Lisa Schulte | AUT | 17 | 7.716 | 7.713 | 42.238 | 42.464 | 1:24.702 |
| 6 | Merle Fräbel | GER | 16 | 7.667 | 7.696 | 42.261 | 42.476 | 1:24.737 |
| 7 | Ashley Farquharson | USA | 8 | 7.734 | 7.701 | 42.283 | 42.474 | 1:24.757 |
| 8 | Kendija Aparjode | LAT | 6 | 7.738 | 7.705 | 42.257 | 42.572 | 1:24.829 |
| 9 | Elina Vitola | LAT | 15 | 7.620 | 7.586 | 42.282 | 42.611 | 1:24.893 |
| 10 | Melina Fischer | GER | 11 | 7.703 | 7.661 | 42.359 | 42.536 | 1:24.895 |
| 11 | Emily Sweeney | USA | 7 | 7.666 | 7.700 | 42.173 | 42.746 | 1:24.919 |
| 12 | Hannah Prock | AUT | 4 | 7.771 | 7.754 | 42.225 | 42.762 | 1:24.987 |
| 13 | Sigita Berzina | LAT | 3 | 7.664 | 7.611 | 42.450 | 42.552 | 1:25.002 |
| 14 | Summer Britcher | USA | 10 | 7.740 | 7.669 | 42.602 | 42.432 | 1:25.034 |
| 15 | Verena Hofer | ITA | 5 | 7.685 | 7.697 | 42.442 | 42.738 | 1:25.180 |
| 16 | Nina Zöggeler | ITA | 2 | 7.789 | 7.762 | 42.711 | 42.709 | 1:25.420 |
| 17 | Trinity Ellis | CAN | 19 | 7.792 | 7.764 | 42.767 | 42.690 | 1:25.457 |
| 18 | Tove Kohala | SWE | 1 | 7.809 | 7.789 | 42.749 | 42.767 | 1:25.516 |
| 19 | Klaudia Domaradzka | POL | 18 | 7.700 | 7.670 | 42.876 | 42.858 | 1:25.734 |
| 20 | Veronica Ravenna | ARG | 20 | 7.934 | 7.902 | 43.032 | 43.258 | 1:26.290 |
| 21 | Peixuan Wang | CHN | 24 | 7.738 | 7.755 | 43.154 | 43.445 | 1:26.599 |
| 22 | Olena Stetskiv | UKR | 22 | 7.818 | 7.726 | 43.190 | 43.815 | 1:27.005 |
| 23 | Ioana-Corina Buzatoiu | ROU | 21 | 7.756 | 7.787 | 43.161 | 43.848 | 1:27.009 |
| 24 | Huilan Hu | CHN | 23 | 7.851 | 7.851 | 43.846 | 43.688 | 1:27.534 |
| 25 | Elsa Desmond | IRL | 25 | 7.922 | 7.932 | 43.502 | 44.408 | 1:27.910 |
| 26 | Anna Shkret | UKR | 26 | 7.908 | 7.909 | 43.700 | 44.680 | 1:28.380 |
| 27 | Tereza Noskova | SVK | 27 | 7.934 | 7.916 | 44.158 | 44.361 | 1:28.519 |
