From Igls, AUT
(February 10, 2024) – Germany’s Victory Dönicke won her first gold medal in women’s skeleton in the Europe Cup finale while Germany clinched all five top spots in the Europe Cup women’s skeleton rankings.
Dönicke trailed teammate Corinna Leipold after the first heat, .12 back, while Great Britain’s Ashlyn Bland sat third, .24 behind Leipold.
Bland held her spot after she took the lead from Germany’s Hanna Staub to break up a German sweep of the podium. From there, Dönicke threw down the best run of the race and the only sub-54 second run of the day.
That second run for Dönicke was .81 quicker than Leipold’s second effort and enough to win gold by .69. Bland was 1.48 back, with the rest of the field less than a second and a half behind.
The gold for Dönicke, while her first in skeleton, was actually her second in the Europe Cup. She’d won gold on January 31, 2020 on the brakes of Kim Kalicki.
Leipold’s silver was her second silver and eighth medal in eight races this season.
Bland’s bronze was her first on the season.
Staub took fourth, up from sixth in the first heat, while USA’s Michelle Toukan and Germany’s Hannah Schwab rounded out the top six, tied for fifth.
Great Britain’s Isabella Fassnidge finished eighth to put both British sleds in the top ten, while Ireland’s Eire Rowland-Evans finished 17th, one spot ahead of South Africa’s Nicole Burger in 18th.
Germany took the top five spots in the season standings. Leipold won the overall title by 98 points over Viktoria Hansova. Hanna Staub finished the season third, with Sarah Schwab fourth and Stefanie Votz fifth.
Ashlyn Bland finished the season in sixth as the top non-German.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Finish |
| 1 | Viktoria Dönicke | GER | 8 | 5.15 | 5.11 | 54.12 | 53.58 | 1:47.70 |
| 2 | Corinna Leipold | GER | 12 | 5.55 | 5.50 | 54.00 | 54.39 | 1:48.39 |
| 3 | Ashlyn Bland | GBR | 11 | 5.46 | 5.41 | 54.24 | 54.94 | 1:49.18 |
| 4 | Hanna Staub | GER | 7 | 5.70 | 5.68 | 54.65 | 54.68 | 1:59.33 |
| 5 | Michelle Toukan | USA | 13 | 5.36 | 5.36 | 54.52 | 54.94 | 1:49.46 |
| 5 | Sarah Schwab | GER | 4 | 5.60 | 5.64 | 54.58 | 54.88 | 1:49.46 |
| 7 | Viktoria Hansova | GER | 10 | 5.53 | 5.52 | 54.78 | 54.87 | 1:49.65 |
| 8 | Isabella Fassnidge | GBR | 5 | 5.48 | 5.44 | 55.02 | 54.77 | 1:49.79 |
| 9 | Stefanie Votz | GER | 6 | 5.86 | 5.86 | 54.86 | 54.99 | 1:49.85 |
| 10 | Anna Saulite | AUT | 21 | 5.76 | 5.72 | 54.79 | 55.09 | 1:49.88 |
| 11 | Yuxin Liang | CHN | 20 | 5.44 | 5.48 | 54.83 | 55.26 | 1:50.09 |
| 12 | Yangqi Zhu | CHN | 9 | 5.48 | 5.52 | 55.02 | 55.10 | 1:50.12 |
| 13 | Alessia Gatti | ITA | 16 | 5.31 | 5.27 | 55.20 | 55.44 | 1:50.64 |
| 14 | Nanna Johansen | DEN | 18 | 5.85 | 5.85 | 55.47 | 55.75 | 1:51.22 |
| 15 | Angel Osakue | ITA | 14 | 5.64 | 5.64 | 55.51 | 55.87 | 1:51.38 |
| 16 | Clara Aznar | ESP | 25 | 5.64 | 5.66 | 55.85 | 55.81 | 1:51.66 |
| 17 | Eire Rowland-Evans | IRL | 26 | 5.62 | 5.71 | 56.05 | 56.43 | 1:52.48 |
| 18 | Nicole Burger | RSA | 19 | 5.68 | 5.64 | 55.69 | 56.97 | 1:52.66 |
| 19 | Fedrica Voghera | ITA | 24 | 5.68 | 5.63 | 56.36 | 56.39 | 1:52.75 |
| 20 | Sarah Lüscher | SUI | 3 | 6.17 | 6.14 | 56.48 | 56.99 | 1:53.47 |
| 20 | Ana Torres Quevedo | ESP | 22 | 6.07 | 6.14 | 56.52 | 56.95 | 1:53.47 |
