From Lake Placid, USA
(March 7, 2024) – Mystique Ro out-slid a stacked field in Lake Placid to win gold in the next to last women’s skeleton race of the 2023/2024 North American Cup season.
Great Britain’s Tabitha Stoecker took the lead after the first heat from the 25th starting spot of a 40 sled field, up a hundredth of a second over USA’s Katie Uhlaender and .11 ahead of Ro.
As she had in the first heat, Ro put down the quick start of the heat on her second run. Her two starts were the two quickest of the competition. Ro’s slide was quick enough to give her the lead ahead of Olympic bronze medalist Kimberley Box, who had taken the lead from China’s Yuxi Li a few minutes prior.
Uhlaender’s second effort was sixth quickest, and enough to put her into third with one sled to go.
That left Stoecker still to go. The British slider had a strong start in the first heat and had coupled it with a clean slide to get the lead. But in her second run she had trouble at the start and was unable to overcome it down the track. Her second effort was 21st quickest of the 25 women to take a second run and dropped her off the podium and into 12th.
That gave Ro the victory, her fourth straight in NAC action and ninth straight medal on that tour.
Bos’s silver medal came in her first NAC start in eight years.
For Uhlaender, her bronze was her fifth medal in five NAC races this season.
China’s Yuxi Li moved up from sixth to fourth in her second run, well ahead of Austria’s Janine Flock in fifth. China’s Dan Zhao rounded out the top six.
Like in the men’s race earlier in the day, the field of 40 women was by far the largest in North American Cup action and one of the largest on any tour in recent memory.
The United States placed half of their six sliders in the top ten. Behind Ro and Uhlaender, Sara Roderick slid into to the top ten with the third quickest start of the race (behind the two from Ro).
To finish out the American effort, Logan Wudi finished in a three-way tie for 18th with Switzerland’s Julia Simmchen and Great Britain’s Isablella Fassnidge, while Sha’Londa Terry finished 26th and Biancha Emery 40th.
Like on the men’s side, Canada put three women in the field in Lake Placid. Jane Channell led the way in 11th,with reigning world champion Hallie Clarke in 24th. Grace Dafoe finished 30th.
Great Britain put their maximum four sliders in the field. Despite her rough second run, Stoecker led the way in 12th. Freya Tarbit was two spots back in 14th, up from 18th in the first heat. Fassnidge was part of that three-way 18th place finish, while Ashlyn Bland finished 29th in her first look at the track in Lake Placid.
Czechia’s Anna Fernstädt finished seventh. Between World Cup and North American Cup, she has never finished out of the top ten at Mt. Van Hoevenberg.
Malta’s Shannon Gaela finished tied for 31st.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Finish |
| 1 | Mystique Ro | USA | 30 | 5.16 | 4.18 | 56.28 | 56.40 | 1:52.68 |
| 2 | Kimberley Bos | NED | 40 | 5.35 | 5.33 | 56.49 | 56.57 | 1:53.06 |
| 3 | Katie Uhlaender | USA | 9 | 5.46 | 5.67 | 56.18 | 57.04 | 1:53.22 |
| 4 | Yuxi Li | CHN | 14 | 5.46 | 5.35 | 56.72 | 56.85 | 1:53.57 |
| 5 | Janine Flock | AUT | 16 | 5.50 | 5.59 | 56.95 | 56.97 | 1:53.92 |
| 6 | Dan Zhao | CHN | 37 | 5.32 | 5.40 | 56.67 | 57.31 | 1:53.98 |
| 7 | Anna Fernstädt | CZE | 15 | 5.59 | 5.58 | 56.89 | 57.33 | 1:54.22 |
| 8 | Alessia Crippa | ITA | 38 | 5.25 | 5.26 | 57.46 | 56.81 | 1:54.27 |
| 9 | Kellie Delka | PUR | 4 | 5.56 | 5.56 | 57.14 | 57.22 | 1:54.36 |
| 10 | Sara Roderick | USA | 11 | 5.21 | 5.33 | 56.74 | 57.67 | 1:54.41 |
| 11 | Jane Channell | CAN | 28 | 5.27 | 5.22 | 56.84 | 57.80 | 1:54.64 |
| 12 | Tabitha Stoecker | GBR | 25 | 5.29 | 5.93 | 56.17 | 58.50 | 1:54.67 |
| 13 | Valentina Margaglio | ITA | 39 | 5.40 | 5.45 | 57.17 | 57.55 | 1:54.72 |
| 14 | Freya Tarbit | GBR | 23 | 5.27 | 5.35 | 57.61 | 57.56 | 1:55.17 |
| 15 | Yangqi Zhu | CHN | 12 | 5.27 | 5.32 | 57.61 | 57.83 | 1:55.44 |
| 16 | Aline Pelckmans | BEL | 34 | 5.52 | 5.54 | 57.53 | 57.93 | 1:55.46 |
| 17 | Alessandra Fumagalli | ITA | 36 | 5.30 | 5.39 | 57.65 | 58.08 | 1:55.73 |
| 18 | Julia Simmchen | SUI | 31 | 5.64 | 5.67 | 57.58 | 58.35 | 1:55.93 |
| 18 | Isabella Fassnidge | GBR | 26 | 5.29 | 5.30 | 57.60 | 58.33 | 1:55.93 |
| 18 | Logan Wudi | USA | 6 | 5.75 | 5.65 | 57.75 | 58.18 | 1:55.93 |
| 21 | Yuxin Liang | CHN | 22 | 5.33 | 5.36 | 57.78 | 58.17 | 1:55.95 |
| 22 | Siji Song | CHN | 21 | 5.50 | 5.53 | 57.58 | 58.52 | 1:56.10 |
| 23 | Sujung Hong | KOR | 3 | 5.60 | 5.56 | 57.79 | 58.60 | 1:56.39 |
| 24 | Hallie Clarke | CAN | 17 | 6.27 | 6.28 | 58.14 | 58.69 | 1:56.83 |
| 25 | Annelies van Dijk | NED | 20 | 5.45 | 5.49 | 58.21 | 58.78 | 1:56.99 |
| 26 | Sha’Londa Terry | USA | 26 | 5.30 | 58.37 | |||
| 27 | Laura Vargas | COL | 8 | 5.76 | 58.42 | |||
| 28 | Nicole Burger | RSA | 13 | 5.64 | 58.44 | |||
| 29 | Ashlyn Bland | GBR | 19 | 5.39 | 58.87 | |||
| 30 | Grace Dafoe | CAN | 2 | 5.62 | 59.12 | |||
| 31 | Shannon Galea | MLT | 5 | 5.88 | 59.19 | |||
| 31 | Annia Unterscheider | AUT | 35 | 5.73 | 59.19 | |||
| 33 | Clara Aznar | ESP | 29 | 5.73 | 59.37 | |||
| 34 | Julia Erlacher | AUT | 24 | 5.36 | 59.48 | |||
| 35 | Ana Torres Quevedo | ESP | 33 | 6.06 | 59.79 | |||
| 36 | Eire Rowland-Evans | IRL | 1 | 6.01 | 60.16 | |||
| 36 | Yerim Kim | KOR | 18 | 5.74 | 60.16 | |||
| 38 | Yeeun Chung | KOR | 27 | 5.95 | 60.19 | |||
| 39 | Hannah Russwurm | FIN | 7 | 5.77 | 60.44 | |||
| 40 | Blancha Emery | USA | 32 | 6.53 | 61.46 |
