From Pyeongchang, KOR
(November 16, 2024) – The Alpensia Sliding Centre in Pyeongchang has been good to British sliding. In the 2018 Olympic Games, Lizzy Yarnold and Laura Deas took gold and bronze respectively in the women’s race, and Dom Parsons took bronze for the men.
Since then, the Olympic track has held various Intercontinental Cup and Asian Cup events, but hadn’t held a top level race. In the tour’s return to South Korea, the Brits continued their winning ways with Amelia Coltman’s come from behind victory in the 2024/2025 World Cup opener.
The weather in Pyeongchang was unseasonably warm and humid, and with that the track deteriorated faster than normal. Coltman took the lead from 15th place in the first heat and watched as slider after slider was unable to bump her out of the leader’s box.
There were 13 women who all slid between Coltman and Austria’s Janine Flock, who led Coltman by 1.22 seconds after the first heat. Flock’s second slide was as good as she could hope for given the weather and track conditions, and on the television broadcast she showed as the provisional leader throughout her run. But as Flock crossed the line she found herself .08 behind Coltman, giving Coltman her first career World Cup medal with a gold.
Flock, the two-time World Cup champion, took her tenth silver and 37th medal overall on tour. Her second run was the 19th quickest of the heat.
Like Coltman, Brazil’s Nicole Silveira came into the event without a World Cup medal. Silveira had, however, won a gold and silver in the previous week’s Asian Cup races and had shown speed since showing up to the track. Her second run was over .6 quicker than her first effort and enough to move her up from 13th into the medals.
Great Britain put two sliders in the top six. Freya Tarbit had gone off one spot ahead of Coltman in the second heat, and her second slide was third quickest, enough to move her up to fourth. China’s Dan Zhao was just .06 behind Tarbit in fifth.
Reigning world champion Hallie Clarke tied with reigning Olympic champion Hannah Neise for sixth place.
In the 2018 Olympic Games, Katie Uhlaender was the top American. She once again was the top American in Pyeongchang with a 14th place finish, just .02 ahead of teammate Mystique Ro.
The Americans put three of their four athletes in the top 20, with Sara Roderick in 18th after putting down the quickest run of the second heat. Kelly Curtis finished 23rd on the strength of the fifth quickest slide of the second heat in her return to action after maternity leave.
Jane Channell just missed out on a top ten with an 11th place finish, .1 behind Germany’s Jacqueline Pfeifer, while Grace Dafoe finished 35th as the final Canadian in the field. Dafoe had a tough start draw from 33rd place off the top.
Behind the two women in the top four, Tabitha Stoecker couldn’t find any speed in her second run and fell from third after the first heat to a tie for 18th with Roderick.
Italy’s Valentina Margaglio had the quick start in both heats on her way to a 12th place finish.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Amelia Coltman | GBR | 14 | 5.23 | 5.22 | 54.76 | 53.65 | 1:48.41 |
| 2 | Janine Flock | AUT | 3 | 5.25 | 5.26 | 53.54 | 54.95 | 1:48.49 |
| 3 | Nicole Silveira | BRA | 15 | 5.17 | 5.20 | 54.56 | 53.98 | 1:48.54 |
| 4 | Freya Tarbit | GBR | 19 | 5.20 | 5.23 | 54.83 | 53.73 | 1:48.56 |
| 5 | Dan Zhao | CHN | 12 | 5.18 | 5.12 | 54.32 | 54.30 | 1:48.62 |
| 6 | Hannah Neise | GER | 7 | 5.39 | 5.39 | 53.90 | 54.77 | 1:48.67 |
| 6 | Hallie Clarke | CAN | 11 | 5.22 | 5.25 | 54.57 | 54.10 | 1:48.67 |
| 8 | Kimberley Bos | NED | 1 | 5.19 | 5.20 | 53.60 | 55.12 | 1:48.72 |
| 9 | Corinna Leipold | GER | 13 | 5.22 | 5.23 | 54.10 | 54.69 | 1:48.79 |
| 10 | Jacqueline Pfeifer | GER | 6 | 5.38 | 5.35 | 53.98 | 54.82 | 1:48.80 |
| 11 | Jane Channell | CAN | 16 | 5.07 | 5.12 | 54.50 | 54.40 | 1:48.90 |
| 12 | Valentina Margaglio | ITA | 5 | 4.99 | 5.02 | 54.86 | 54.05 | 1:48.91 |
| 13 | Kim Meylemans | BEL | 2 | 5.07 | 5.09 | 53.75 | 55.21 | 1:48.96 |
| 14 | Katie Uhlaender | USA | 10 | 5.29 | 5.31 | 54.43 | 54.65 | 1:49.08 |
| 15 | Mystique Ro | USA | 4 | 5.03 | 5.04 | 54.20 | 54.90 | 1:49.10 |
| 16 | Anna Fernstädt | CZE | 22 | 5.30 | 5.33 | 54.89 | 54.37 | 1:49.26 |
| 17 | Susanne Kreher | GER | 8 | 5.15 | 5.18 | 54.24 | 55.04 | 1:49.28 |
| 18 | Tabitha Stoecker | GBR | 9 | 5.00 | 5.10 | 53.69 | 55.80 | 1:49.49 |
| 18 | Sara Roderick | USA | 21 | 5.04 | 5.05 | 56.05 | 53.44 | 1:49.49 |
| 20 | Yuxi Li | CHN | 17 | 5.14 | 5.16 | 55.73 | 53.93 | 1:49.66 |
| 21 | Alessia Crippa | ITA | 18 | 5.09 | 5.13 | 55.93 | 53.85 | 1:49.78 |
| 22 | Siji Song | CHN | 25 | 5.35 | 5.35 | 55.98 | 54.34 | 1:50.32 |
| 23 | Kelly Curtis | USA | 24 | 5.21 | 5.30 | 56.57 | 53.88 | 1:50.45 |
| 24 | Aline Pelckmans | BEL | 26 | 5.45 | 5.49 | 56.31 | 55.07 | 1:51.38 |
| 25 | Yuxin Liang | CHN | 27 | 5.18 | 5.18 | 56.57 | 54.96 | 1:51.53 |
| 26 | Alessandra Fumagalli | ITA | 20 | 5.17 | 5.18 | 55.59 | 57.46 | 1:53.05 |
| 27 | Kellie Delka | PUR | 23 | 5.42 | 56.77 | |||
| 28 | Darta Zunte | EST | 29 | 5.23 | 57.07 | |||
| 29 | Nicole Burger | RSA | 35 | 5.25 | 57.17 | |||
| 30 | Sara Schmied | SUI | 28 | 5.24 | 57.18 | |||
| 31 | Nanna Johansen | DEN | 31 | 5.53 | 57.46 | |||
| 32 | Anna Saulite | AUT | 37 | 5.43 | 57.84 | |||
| 33 | Sujung Hon | KOR | 32 | 5.91 | 57.95 | |||
| 34 | Julia Simmchen | SUI | 30 | 5.48 | 58.06 | |||
| 35 | Grace Dafoe | CAN | 33 | 5.28 | 58.16 | |||
| 36 | Anna Torres Quevedo | ESP | 34 | 5.62 | 58.48 | |||
| 37 | Clara Aznar | ESP | 36 | 5.36 | 58.53 | |||
| 38 | Laura Vargas | COL | 38 | 5.52 | 59.16 |
