From Winterberg, GER
(February 23, 2024) – Winterberg is a track that, at times, can produce some very tight racing. In the women’s skeleton World Championships race it couldn’t get much tighter.
Canada’s Hallie Clarke was the overnight leader by just .03 over Great Britain’s Tabitha Stoecker. Reigning Olympic champion Hannah Neise was third, only .06 back while Kim Meylemans sat only .09 back in fourth. Throughout the field only hundredths of a second separated one slider from those around them.
The third heat of a four-heat race is always the “moving run”, with athletes working their way into position for the final heat. In that heat, Clarke held her lead, but was joined at the top of the running order by Neise. Belgium’s Meylemans moved up from fourth into third, only a tenth back, while Stoecker fell to fourth, but only .06 out of the medals.
Behind Stoecker, Jacqueline Pfeifer moved up into fifth, just .07 behind Stoecker, with Amelia Coltman only .03 behind Stoecker.
To that point it was really anybody’s race.
The fourth heat may not have seen as much moving up and down the order as someone would have expected after the third heat, but the racing couldn’t have been much tighter.
The United States’ Mystique Ro had the fastest start in both of Friday’s runs and used that plus her best slide of the competition to move into the lead and hold her spot in eighth place. Mimi Rahneva, Coltman, Pfeifer, and Stoecker all held their spots as well, but only by hundredths of a second each.
Meylemans’s last few seasons have shown that she’s one of the top sliders in the world. And this season she’s contended for wins in more than a couple of events. She took the lead from Stoecker by .06 to guarantee Belgium a medal, its first ever World Champs medal.
Clarke went next. The Canadian, making her second ever World Championships start, slid like a seasoned veteran. Her start was second only to Ro’s, and her downtime was the fastest of the competition to that point, leaving only Neise between herself and World Championships gold.
Neise was behind early after being outstarted by .15. The German closed her gap between herself and Clarke early on, but as her slide continued the speed was just not there. She crossed the finish line in third, behind both Clarke and Meylemans to win bronze.
Clarke’s victory was her first ever gold medal on the IBSF senior circuit. She’d previously won two silver medals in Whistler and Igls during the 2022/2023 season.
The World Championships gold medal was also Canada’s first in women’s skeleton since Michelle Kelly took top honors in the 2003 event in Nagano.
Meyleman’s silver was her second ever at the senior level (Sigulda this season being the other) and her second top five in World Champs after finishing fifth in Königssee in 2017.
For Hannah Neise, the reigning Olympic champion, her bronze comes a year after a wildly disappointing 15th place finish in St. Moritz. She’s now won a medal in two of her four four-heat skeleton races.
Stoecker’s fourth place finish is a 19 position improvement from her first World Championships in St. Moritz a year ago.
Pfeifer finished fifth on her home track with four consistent runs, while Coltman helped place both British women in the top six with a fourth run that matched Pfeifers.
Mimi Rahneva finished seventh, .02 ahead of Mystique Ro in eighth. The two North Americans had matching fourth run downtimes that were tied for second quickest behind only Clarke.
Ro’s eight place finish came with start rankings of second, second, first, and first across the four heats.
Dutch slider Kimberley Bos, a favorite coming into the race and leader after the first run couldn’t make up the ground lost after issues with her helmet led to a frantic start and disastrous run that dropped her well down the order. She did climb a little bit in the third heat and finished ninth.
Defending champion Susanne Kreher came into the third heat in the hunt for medals, but two lackluster runs dropped her out of medal contention and she finished tenth.
Winterberg was good to the North Americans in general. Jane Channell’s second run of the race was the quickest of that heat and was enough to help her move to 11th.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Run 1 | Run 2 | Run 3 | Run 4 | Total |
| 1 | Hallie Clarke | CAN | 10 | 58.20 | 58.97 | 57.17 | 56.93 | 3:51.27 |
| 2 | Kim Meylemans | BEL | 2 | 58.28 | 58.98 | 57.18 | 57.05 | 3:51.49 |
| 3 | Hannah Neise | GER | 4 | 58.40 | 58.83 | 57.11 | 57.19 | 3:51.53 |
| 4 | Tabitha Stoecker | GBR | 11 | 58.25 | 58.95 | 57.30 | 57.05 | 3:51.55 |
| 5 | Jacqueline Pfeifer | GER | 8 | 58.52 | 58.81 | 57.24 | 57.03 | 3:51.60 |
| 6 | Amelia Coltman | GBR | 13 | 58.32 | 59.09 | 57.18 | 57.03 | 3:51.62 |
| 7 | Mirela Rahneva | CAN | 6 | 58.34 | 59.09 | 57.23 | 56.97 | 3:51.63 |
| 8 | Mystique Ro | USA | 9 | 58.42 | 59.05 | 57.21 | 56.97 | 3:51.65 |
| 9 | Kimberley Bos | NED | 3 | 58.18 | 59.35 | 57.21 | 57.03 | 3:51.77 |
| 10 | Susanne Kreher | GER | 7 | 58.61 | 58.70 | 57.62 | 57.48 | 3:52.41 |
| 11 | Jane Channell | CAN | 17 | 58.91 | 58.47 | 57.82 | 57.52 | 3:52.72 |
| 12 | Janine Flock | AUT | 1 | 58.56 | 59.29 | 57.61 | 57.29 | 3:52.75 |
| 13 | Nicole Silveira | BRA | 14 | 58.84 | 58.76 | 57.68 | 57.69 | 3:52.97 |
| 14 | Dan Zhao | CHN | 12 | 59.06 | 58.70 | 57.75 | 57.56 | 3:53.07 |
| 15 | Alessia Crippa | ITA | 16 | 59.67 | 58.80 | 58.13 | 57.89 | 3:54.49 |
| 16 | Aline Pelckmans | BEL | 24 | 59.83 | 58.97 | 58.23 | 57.93 | 3:54.96 |
| 17 | Yuxi Li | CHN | 15 | 59.43 | 59.40 | 58.41 | 57.78 | 3:55.02 |
| 17 | Anna Fernstädt | CZE | 19 | 59.39 | 59.14 | 58.49 | 58.00 | 3:55.02 |
| 19 | Julia Erlacher | AUT | 21 | 59.47 | 59.09 | 58.33 | 58.35 | 3:55.24 |
| 20 | Alessandra Fumagalli | ITA | 18 | 59.69 | 59.15 | 58.73 | 58.31 | 3:55.88 |
| 21 | Sara Schmied | SUI | 20 | 59.72 | 59.21 | 58.83 | 58.81 | 3:56.57 |
| 22 | Darta Zunte | EST | 25 | 60.36 | 59.52 | 58.94 | 58.36 | 3:57.18 |
| 23 | Katharina Eigenmann | LIE | 26 | 60.75 | 59.72 | 58.82 | 58.68 | 3:57.97 |
| 24 | Julia Simmchen | SUI | 22 | 60.80 | 59.72 | 59.23 | 58.95 | 3:58.70 |
| 26 | Laura Vargas | COL | 27 | 61.78 | 62.02 | 60.47 | 3:04.27 | |
| 27 | Ana Torres Quevedo | ESP | 23 | 61.52 | 62.90 | 60.12 | 3:04.54 | |
| DNS | Valentina Margaglio | ITA | 5 | 58.91 | 58.71 | 57.90 | DNS |