From Pyeongchang, KOR
(November 17, 2024) – For the second time in as many days a British slider has taken gold in Pyeongchang, and for the second time in as many days it was a first-time World Cup winner.
Freya Tarbit injured herself in the summertime while training and was back just in time to compete on tour this year. In her second race of the season she slid to gold in decisive fashion, beating out the field by nearly a full second.
Tarbit was the very first slider off in the day, and put down a run that wouldn’t be matched by any of the other 37 women in the field. Only Janine Flock got within a quarter of a second of Tarbit’s first effort, while teammate Tabitha Stoecker sat .29 back in third and Hannah Neise nearly a half second back in fourth.
Unlike the previous day’s race, the track held up well for the athletes, giving those around the top ten a shot to move up with a solid run. Anna Fernstädt made the most of that good ice and moved up from 14th to what would eventually be eighth. She was eventually picked off by Kim Meylemans, who finished one spot ahead of her.
When the battle for the medals finally arrived, two Germans made a push to get onto the podium. First Jacqueline Pfeifer, the 2018 Olympic sliver medalist, threw down a strong run to take the lead from Nicole Silveira. Neise grabbed the lead by Pfeifer by just .08 and both women then moved up a spot as they picked off Great Britain’s Tabitha Stoecker.
That left Flock and Tarbit. On Saturday, Flock had the lead after the first heat but lost mostly due to a track that could not withstand the weather. On Sunday, she just didn’t quite have the speed on her second effort to maintain her spot as she fell behind Neise but still remained on the podium.
That left Tarbit. Off the top she was better than her first effort, and at every point down the track she remained quicker. She crossed the line .14 faster than her first slide and .96 ahead of anyone else to win her first career World Cup medal, a gold.
Tarbit’s gold gave Great Britain gold in the last three top-level events at the Alpensia Sliding Centre.
Neise took silver, just .06 head of Flock, who held on for bronze.
Pfeifer finished fourth, only .02 off of the podium while Stoecker left Pyeongchang with a fifth place finish.
Silveira, the Asian Cup co-leader, rounded out the top six.
Sara Roderick led the way for the United States on the strength of two big pushes and finished 12th. Katie Uhlaender finished 16, two spots ahead of teammate Mystique Ro in 18th. Kelly Curtis had a deep start draw and a bit of a bumpy slide on her way to a 33rd place finish.
For the Canadians, Jane Channell moved up from 16th in the first heat to finish 13th, one spot ahead of Hallie Clarke in 14th. Grace Dafoe finished 36th from the 37th start draw.
Amelia Coltman, the previous day’s winner, took 19th place after a bumpy second run dropped her out of the top ten.
Tarbit’s win moved her to the top of the World Cup standings, seven points ahead of Flock, with Neise, Silveira, and Pfeifer rounding out the top five.
The tour moves on to Yanqing on November 23.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Freya Tarbit | GBR | 1 | 5.22 | 5.15 | 52.41 | 52.27 | 1:44.68 |
| 2 | Hannah Neise | GER | 10 | 5.39 | 5.32 | 52.87 | 52.77 | 1:45.64 |
| 3 | Janine Flock | AUT | 8 | 5.31 | 5.26 | 52.54 | 53.16 | 1:45.70 |
| 4 | Jacqueline Pfeifer | GER | 7 | 5.35 | 5.37 | 52.88 | 52.84 | 1:45.72 |
| 5 | Tabitha Stoecker | GBR | 17 | 5.07 | 5.10 | 52.70 | 53.21 | 1:45.91 |
| 6 | Nicole Silveira | BRA | 9 | 5.28 | 5.20 | 52.91 | 53.10 | 1:46.01 |
| 7 | Kim Meylemans | BEL | 15 | 5.13 | 5.08 | 53.17 | 52.86 | 1:46.03 |
| 8 | Anna Fernstädt | CZE | 18 | 5.36 | 5.33 | 53.26 | 52.93 | 1:46.19 |
| 9 | Kimberley Bos | NED | 6 | 5.18 | 5.14 | 53.18 | 53.03 | 1:46.21 |
| 10 | Corinna Leipold | GER | 5 | 5.29 | 5.23 | 53.19 | 53.07 | 1:46.26 |
| 11 | Dan Zhao | CHN | 4 | 5.26 | 5.17 | 53.23 | 53.08 | 1:46.31 |
| 12 | Sara Roderick | USA | 13 | 5.09 | 5.07 | 53.24 | 53.25 | 1:46.49 |
| 13 | Jane Channell | CAN | 19 | 5.13 | 5.12 | 53.48 | 53.11 | 1:46.59 |
| 14 | Hallie Clarke | CAN | 3 | 5.23 | 5.20 | 53.23 | 53.39 | 1:46.62 |
| 15 | Susanne Kreher | GER | 11 | 5.16 | 5.15 | 53.57 | 53.14 | 1:46.71 |
| 16 | Katie Uhlaender | USA | 12 | 5.35 | 5.30 | 53.42 | 53.37 | 1:46.79 |
| 17 | Valentina Margaglio | ITA | 16 | 5.04 | 5.04 | 53.50 | 53.30 | 1:46.80 |
| 18 | Mystique Ro | USA | 20 | 5.05 | 5.03 | 53.77 | 53.30 | 1:47.07 |
| 19 | Amelia Coltman | GBR | 2 | 5.24 | 5.24 | 52.97 | 54.17 | 1:47.14 |
| 20 | Alessandra Fumagalli | ITA | 21 | 5.19 | 5.17 | 53.73 | 53.46 | 1:47.19 |
| 21 | Anna Saulite | AUT | 24 | 5.42 | 5.53 | 53.89 | 53.87 | 1:47.76 |
| 22 | Sara Schmeid | SUI | 25 | 5.20 | 5.21 | 53.97 | 54.01 | 1:47.98 |
| 23 | Yuxi Li | CHN | 14 | 5.17 | 5.25 | 53.99 | 54.05 | 1:48.04 |
| 24 | Darta Zunte | EST | 29 | 5.28 | 5.29 | 54.02 | 54.24 | 1:48.26 |
| 25 | Alessia Crippa | ITA | 26 | 5.15 | 5.14 | 53.91 | 54.39 | 1:48.30 |
| 26 | Sujung Hong | KOR | 31 | 5.43 | 54.28 | |||
| 27 | Siji Song | CHN | 31 | 5.40 | 54.28 | |||
| 28 | Kellie Delka | PUR | 35 | 5.42 | 54.41 | |||
| 29 | Julia Simmchen | SUI | 27 | 5.50 | 54.45 | |||
| 30 | Laura Vargas | COL | 32 | 5.53 | 54.70 | |||
| 31 | Yuxin Liang | CHN | 34 | 5.19 | 54.78 | |||
| 32 | Nanna Johansen | DEN | 30 | 5.62 | 54.94 | |||
| 33 | Kelly Curtis | USA | 28 | 5.26 | 54.14 | |||
| 33 | Nicole Burger | RSA | 48 | 5.26 | 55.14 | |||
| 35 | Aline Pelckmans | BEL | 36 | 5.52 | 55.15 | |||
| 36 | Grace Dafoe | CAN | 37 | 5.36 | 55.66 | |||
| 37 | Anna Torres Quevedo | ESP | 22 | 5.64 | 55.77 | |||
| 38 | Clara Aznar | ESP | 33 | 5.35 | 55.94 |
