From Pyeongchang, KOR
(November 14, 2024) – Yangqi Zhu cruised to victory in the third Asian Cup race of the season, beating the field by well over a second.
Zhu bested the field by over a half of a second in the first heat, with Minji Kim in second after the first heat also a half second ahead of anyone behind her.
There wasn’t much of a mixup in the order through the second heat. On a slowing track, Hannah Russwurm was first off but was nearly three seconds off of her first heat pace. Guanshuo Wang of China was next, and took the lead by 1.4 seconds over the Finnish slider.
Despite having a start that was nearly a half second off of the pace of Wang, Kim was able to hold her position and guarantee herself no worse than silver.
Zhu was the final slider off in the women’s competition. Her second start matched Wang’s for the quickest of the race, and her slide was the only sub-57 second run of heat as she took her first Asian Cup gold medal. Kim finished second, with Wang third and Russwurm fourth.
Zhu’s gold was the fourth in her career, but first in nearly five years. Since winning gold in three North American Cup races in Park City, Zhu had been on the podium only once (Nov. 20, 2021, Europe Cup, Winterberg).
Kim’s silver was a career best in international competition, while Wang’s bronze was also a career best.
The Asian Cup continues on Friday before Pyeongchang hosts the IBSF World Cup skeleton opener (and second race) on Saturday and Sunday.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Finish |
| 1 | Yangqi Zhu | CHN | 2 | 5.20 | 5.17 | 55.24 | 56.79 | 1:52.03 |
| 2 | Minji Kim | KOR | 6 | 5.64 | 5.63 | 55.80 | 57.63 | 1:53.43 |
| 3 | Guanshuo Wang | CHN | 1 | 5.17 | 5.17 | 56.31 | 57.71 | 1:54.02 |
| 4 | Hannah Russwurm | FIN | 5 | 5.53 | 5.56 | 56.38 | 59.08 | 1:55.46 |
| DNS | Eire Rowland-Evans | IRL | 7 | DNS | ||||
| DNS | Yeeun Chung | KOR | 4 | DNS | ||||
| DNS | Yerim Kim | KOR | 3 | DNS |
