From Winterberg, GER
(February 22, 2024) – In her short career as a skeleton athlete, Canada’s Hallie Clarke has flashed moments of brilliance with some great runs and a few medals to show for it.
And now, at the halfway point of the 2024 IBSF World Championships, Clarke finds herself as the leader ahead of a very talented field of sliders.
Clarke trailed only Dutch slider and perennial favorite in Winterberg, Kimberley Bos, after the first heat, with another up-and-coming slider in Tabitha Stoecker just behind her in third.
In the second heat Stoecker barely held off reigning Olympic champion Hannah Neise to take the lead with two medal contenders still to go. Clarke was up next, and trailed Stoecker for the bulk of her run, but had just enough speed up the famous Zielkurve to keep ahead of Stoecker with only Bos still remaining.
But there was trouble at the start for Bos. As she stood to the start block there was clearly trouble with the straps of her helmet. With the 30 second start clock ticking down Bos and coach Joska Le Conté raced to get her strap hooked up, and Bos was just barely able to make the start with only a few seconds to spare.
Bos’s slide was one of her most disappointing in recent memory, as the combination of the issues at the start and an entirely deteriorated track gave her the seventh slowest downtime of the 27 sliders in the race and dropped her out of the top ten.
Clarke’s great pair of slides puts her in the lead by .03 over Stoecker and .06 ahead of Neise. Belgium’s Kim Meylemans spends the overnight in fourth place, only .09 out of the lead, while Reigning world champion Susanne Kreher and teammate Jacqueline Pfeifer are fifth and sixth overnight just .14 and .16 out of the lead respectively. Kreher’s second run was the second quickest of the second heat.
Jane Channell may have suffered from slower ice in the first heat, but rallied from 14th to seventh after putting down the fastest downtime of the second heat. Teammate Mimi Rahneva helped put all three Canadians in the top ten with a pair of runs that left her in ninth place after two runs.
Great Britain placed both of their athletes in the top ten overnight. Amelia Coltman, a medalist in Winterberg in both Europe Cup and Intercontinental Cup, put together two runs that left her in eighth place overnight.
Mystique Ro is the lone American in the 27 woman field. She had the second quickest push in both heats on her way to a tenth place overnight ranking.
The remaining two heats will take place on Friday, beginning at 6:00 AM ET.
Standings After Two Runs:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | IBSF Rank | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Hallie Clarke | CAN | 10 | 12 | 5.34 | 5.30 | 58.20 | 58.97 | 1:57.17 |
| 2 | Tabitha Stoecker | GBR | 11 | 11 | 5.20 | 5.22 | 58.25 | 58.95 | 1:57.20 |
| 3 | Hannah Neise | GER | 4 | 6 | 5.44 | 5.44 | 58.40 | 58.83 | 1:57.23 |
| 4 | Kim Meylemans | BEL | 2 | 2 | 5.29 | 5.29 | 58.28 | 58.98 | 1:57.26 |
| 5 | Susanne Kreher | GER | 7 | 9 | 5.40 | 5.40 | 58.61 | 58.70 | 1:57.31 |
| 6 | Jacqueline Pfeifer | GER | 8 | 10 | 5.50 | 5.46 | 58.52 | 58.81 | 1:57.33 |
| 7 | Jane Channell | CAN | 17 | 26 | 5.25 | 5.25 | 58.91 | 58.47 | 1:57.38 |
| 8 | Amelia Coltman | GBR | 13 | 14 | 5.41 | 5.40 | 58.32 | 59.09 | 1:57.41 |
| 9 | Mirela Rahneva | CAN | 6 | 8 | 5.31 | 5.30 | 58.34 | 59.09 | 1:57.43 |
| 10 | Mystique Ro | USA | 9 | 7 | 5.22 | 5.20 | 58.42 | 59.05 | 1:57.47 |
| 11 | Kimberley Bos | NED | 3 | 1 | 5.32 | 5.27 | 58.18 | 59.35 | 1:57.53 |
| 12 | Nicole Silveira | BRA | 14 | 18 | 5.50 | 5.52 | 58.84 | 58.76 | 1:57.60 |
| 13 | Valentina Margaglio | ITA | 5 | 4 | 5.26 | 5.19 | 58.91 | 58.71 | 1:57.62 |
| 14 | Dan Zhao | CHN | 12 | 13 | 5.40 | 5.43 | 59.06 | 58.70 | 1:57.76 |
| 15 | Janine Flock | AUT | 1 | 5 | 5.48 | 5.53 | 58.56 | 59.29 | 1:57.85 |
| 16 | Alessia Crippa | ITA | 16 | 22 | 5.29 | 5.28 | 59.67 | 58.80 | 1:58.47 |
| 17 | Anna Fernstädt | CZE | 19 | 28 | 5.60 | 5.67 | 59.39 | 59.14 | 1:58.53 |
| 18 | Julia Erlacher | AUT | 21 | 35 | 5.33 | 5.37 | 59.47 | 59.09 | 1:58.56 |
| 19 | Aline Pelckmans | BEL | 24 | 43 | 5.55 | 5.52 | 59.83 | 58.97 | 1:58.80 |
| 20 | Yuxi Li | CHN | 15 | 21 | 5.38 | 5.44 | 59.43 | 59.40 | 1:58.83 |
| 21 | Alessandra Fumagalli | ITA | 18 | 24 | 5.30 | 5.29 | 59.69 | 59.15 | 1:58.84 |
| 22 | Sara Schmied | SUI | 20 | 38 | 5.43 | 5.35 | 59.72 | 59.21 | 1:58.93 |
| 23 | Darta Zunte | EST | 25 | 37 | 5.65 | 5.55 | 60.36 | 59.52 | 1:59.88 |
| 24 | Katharina Eigenmann | LIE | 26 | 60 | 5.76 | 5.77 | 60.75 | 59.72 | 2:00.47 |
| 25 | Julia Simmchen | SUI | 22 | 44 | 5.73 | 5.67 | 60.80 | 59.72 | 2:00.52 |
| 26 | Laura Vargas | COL | 27 | 61 | 5.75 | 5.75 | 61.78 | 62.02 | 2:03.80 |
| 27 | Ana Torres Quevedo | ESP | 23 | 48 | 6.03 | 6.15 | 61.52 | 62.90 | 2:04.42 |
