From Yanqing, CHN
(November 23, 2024) – The 2024/2025 IBSF World Cup skeleton season is just three races old and the tour has now seen three different first-time winners.
This time it was Dan Zhao, racing on home ice in Yanqing, who slid to victory ahead of the reigning Olympic champion Hannah Neise and fellow first-time winner this season Freya Tarbit.
Zhao entered the second heat tied with Tarbit, with Neise well ahead of anyone else behind her in third place. Neise was first off of the three and set a downtime which, to that point, tied for the quickest run of the competition with Zhao and Tarbit.
Tarbit was up next. She’d entered the event as the World Cup leader after winning the previous race in Pyeongchang. Her second effort was quick, but not quite enough to hold back the German champion as she fell to second place by .04 with Zhao to go.
So the pressure was on Zhao, sliding in front of a home crowd. The previous season she’d led after one heat but fell behind Tina Hermann after her second run by just .02 to win China’s first World Cup silver medal for a women’s skeleton athlete.
This time, Zhao put together a nearly flawless run. Her second run was .21 quicker than her first, and plenty enough to win her first career World Cup gold, with Neise in second and Tarbit in third.
Zhao’s gold was the second in her international sliding career. She’d previously won gold in the Intercontinental Cup in Igls back in 2021.
Great Britain put two women in the top four, with Tabitha Stoecker in fourth place. Germany’s Jacqueline Pfeifer put together a pair of consistent slides, the second of which was enough to move her into the top five with a fifth place effort.
Pfeifer’s second effort unseated 2022 Olympic bronze medalist Kimberley Bos, who finished sixth.
Canada’s Hallie Clarke made a valiant effort to get into the top six after entering the second heat in 12th place, tied with Janine Flock. Clarke jumped up to what would eventually be seventh place with an outstanding second run. Jane Channell slid to a 17th place effort, while Grace Dafoe couldn’t quite find the speed needed to make the second heat and finished 31st.
Mystique Ro put down the quick start in each of the two heats in Yanqing on her way to an tenth place finish as the top American. Katie Uhlaender, making her 105th start, made a big jump in the second heat from 19th to 16th.
One of women that Uhlaender picked off was Sara Roderick, who once again showed great form off the top but couldn’t quite find the speed that her teammate had and finished 19th. Kelly Curtis had a bumpy top half of her second run, which dropped her to 24th after two runs as the final American in the field.
Anna Fernstädt celebrated her birthday with an impressive second run to move up to eighth place from 11th in the first heat.
After three races in the IBSF World Cup skeleton season Freya Tarbit leads Hannah Neise by 21 points, while Dan Zhao sits third. Janine Flock and Jacqueline Pfeifer round out the top five.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Dan Zhao | CHN | 6 | 5.26 | 5.21 | 62.24 | 62.03 | 2:04.27 |
| 2 | Hannah Neise | GER | 7 | 5.35 | 5.33 | 62.40 | 62.24 | 2:04.64 |
| 3 | Feya Tarbit | GBR | 9 | 5.21 | 5.24 | 62.24 | 62.44 | 2:04.68 |
| 4 | Tabitha Stoecker | GBR | 8 | 5.07 | 5.05 | 62.44 | 62.65 | 2:05.09 |
| 5 | Jacqueline Pfeifer | GER | 3 | 5.38 | 5.39 | 63.11 | 62.47 | 2:05.58 |
| 6 | Kimberley Bos | NED | 1 | 5.15 | 5.15 | 62.96 | 62.63 | 2:05.59 |
| 7 | Hallie Clarke | CAN | 10 | 5.25 | 5.23 | 63.32 | 62.47 | 2:05.79 |
| 8 | Anna Fernstädt | CZE | 18 | 5.37 | 5.37 | 63.24 | 62.58 | 2:05.82 |
| 9 | Susanne Kreher | GER | 14 | 5.25 | 5.23 | 63.14 | 62.70 | 2:05.84 |
| 10 | Mystique Ro | USA | 15 | 5.04 | 5.05 | 63.18 | 62.89 | 2:06.07 |
| 11 | Corinna Leipold | GER | 4 | 5.30 | 5.29 | 63.20 | 62.98 | 2:06.18 |
| 12 | Janine Flock | AUT | 5 | 5.35 | 5.37 | 63.32 | 62.87 | 2:06.19 |
| 13 | Alessia Crippa | ITA | 19 | 5.19 | 5.19 | 63.37 | 62.93 | 2:06.30 |
| 14 | Amelia Coltman | GBR | 2 | 5.27 | 5.22 | 63.02 | 63.35 | 2:06.37 |
| 15 | Yuxi Li | CHN | 17 | 5.13 | 5.21 | 63.39 | 63.26 | 2:06.65 |
| 16 | Katie Uhlaender | USA | 14 | 5.33 | 5.32 | 63.83 | 63.00 | 2:06.83 |
| 17 | Jane Channell | CAN | 16 | 5.14 | 5.17 | 63.55 | 63.71 | 2:07.26 |
| 18 | Siji Song | CHN | 27 | 5.36 | 5.42 | 63.88 | 63.47 | 2:07.35 |
| 19 | Sara Roderick | USA | 11 | 5.14 | 5.14 | 63.75 | 63.70 | 2:07.45 |
| 20 | Valentina Margaglio | ITA | 20 | 5.07 | 5.09 | 64.03 | 63.68 | 2:07.71 |
| 21 | Yuxin Liang | CHN | 22 | 5.20 | 5.21 | 63.76 | 64.54 | 2:08.30 |
| 22 | Sara Schmied | SUI | 23 | 5.26 | 5.27 | 64.58 | 63.97 | 2:08.55 |
| 23 | Julia Simmchen | SUI | 25 | 5.52 | 5.53 | 65.07 | 63.63 | 2:08.70 |
| 24 | Kelly Curtis | USA | 23 | 5.30 | 5.32 | 64.33 | 64.80 | 2:09.13 |
| 25 | Darta Zunte | EST | 31 | 5.32 | 5.32 | 65.02 | 64.21 | 2:09.23 |
| 26 | Anna Saulite | AUT | 21 | 5.53 | 65.14 | |||
| 27 | Aline Pelckmans | BEL | 30 | 5.57 | 65.57 | |||
| 28 | Laura Vargas | COL | 24 | 5.50 | 65.70 | |||
| 29 | Sujung Hong | KOR | 26 | 5.39 | 66.06 | |||
| 30 | Alessandra Fumagalli | ITA | 12 | 5.24 | 66.28 | |||
| 31 | Grace Dafoe | CAN | 29 | 5.42 | 66.73 |
