From Altenberg, GER
(December 6, 2024) – The IBSF World Cup skeleton tour made its way to Europe for the fourth race on their schedule. A heavy snow came through just prior to the 9:30 AM local time start, and the jury made the decision to cut the race to a one-heat race.
And in the one-heat race, Kim Meylemans won with relative ease from a middle of the pack starting draw where few others found speed.
Anna Fernstädt was the first slider off after the weather delay, but only held the lead for one run, as Nicole Silveira took over in the top spot.
Hannah Neise was the third slider off the top, and her slide was .44 quicker than Silveira, more than enough to take the lead.
That lead was mostly safe for nearly 30 minutes. Janine Flock, still on the hunt for her first gold medal in Altenberg, got close. She was nearly .15 back going into the Kreisel, but made up nearly all the time as she got within .01 of Neise but ran out of track as she slid to second place at the time.
After Flock’s run nobody got within a tenth of the leader until Meylemans pushed off from the 17th starting position. Her 5.47 start was .31 quicker than Neise’s, and unlike anyone else to that point the Belgian was able to hold her pace below the Kreisel as she slid to the lead, .21 ahead of Neise.
From there, nobody really challenged for the lead. Susanne Kreher, the 2023 world champion, slid to within .2 of Meylemans to move into second place by a hundredth over teammate Neise. That gave her second place, a spot she held for the remainder of the race.
Meylemans took the gold in Altenberg in the one heat race. It was her first win on the World Cup tour after having won five medals previously (two silver, three bronze). Her win gives the IBSF four first-time winners in four races this season in the World Cup tour.
For Kreher, her silver was the fourth of her career, with three of those coming in Altenberg. Meanwhile, for Neise, the bronze medal was her seventh World Cup medal on seven different tracks.
Flock missed out on a medal by .01 as she finished fourth behind Neise. Kimberley Bos scored another top five finish with a fifth place effort while Amelia Coltman continued a strong start to her campaign with a sixth place effort.
The United States was led by Sara Roderick, who matched a career-best finish with a ninth place effort, only .02 behind Germany’s Corinna Leipold in eighth. Katie Uhlaender finished in 14th, two spots ahead of Kelly Curtis in 16th. Mystique Ro helped put all four American sleds in the top 20 with a 20th place finish.
Tabitha Stoecker had the fast start of the competition and helped put two British sleds in the top ten with a tenth place effort, a hundredth behind Roderick. Freya Tarbit struggled in her run and finished 21st, tied with China’s Yuxi Li for 21st.
Jane Channell finished 11th for Canada, while teammate Grace Dafoe finished 30th with a very late start draw.
At the halfway mark of the 2024/2025 IBSF World Cup skeleton season, Hannah Neise leads Janine Flock by 66 points. Freya Tarbit falls to third after a disappointing race, while Kimberley Bos and Jacqueline Pfeifer round out the top five.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start | Time |
| 1 | Kim Meylemans | BEL | 17 | 5.47 | 1:01.34 |
| 2 | Susanne Kreher | GER | 19 | 5.55 | 1:01.54 |
| 3 | Hannah Neise | GER | 3 | 5.78 | 1:01.55 |
| 4 | Janine Flock | AUT | 5 | 5.74 | 1:01.56 |
| 5 | Kimberley Bos | NED | 9 | 5.50 | 1:01.69 |
| 6 | Ameila Coltman | GBR | 12 | 5.65 | 1:01.88 |
| 7 | Nicole Silveira | BRA | 2 | 5.64 | 1:01.89 |
| 8 | Corinna Leipold | GER | 6 | 5.68 | 1:01.94 |
| 9 | Sara Roderick | USA | 14 | 5.45 | 1:01.96 |
| 10 | Tabitha Stoecker | GBR | 10 | 5.36 | 1:01.97 |
| 11 | Jane Channell | CAN | 15 | 5.50 | 1:02.06 |
| 12 | Anna Fernstädt | CZE | 1 | 5.73 | 1:02.08 |
| 13 | Jacqueline Pfeifer | GER | 8 | 5.84 | 1:02.10 |
| 14 | Katie Uhlaender | USA | 20 | 5.70 | 1:02.21 |
| 15 | Sara Schmied | SUI | 21 | 5.64 | 1:02.24 |
| 16 | Kelly Curtis | USA | 29 | 5.60 | 1:02.31 |
| 17 | Alessia Crippa | ITA | 18 | 5.49 | 1:02.35 |
| 17 | Dan Zhao | CHN | 7 | 5.65 | 1:02.35 |
| 19 | Valentina Margaglio | ITA | 16 | 5.38 | 1:02.45 |
| 20 | Mystique Ro | USA | 11 | 5.37 | 1:02.61 |
| 21 | Yuxi Li | CHN | 13 | 5.55 | 1:02.70 |
| 21 | Freya Tarbit | GBR | 4 | 5.58 | 1:02.70 |
| 23 | Kellie Delka | PUR | 30 | 5.92 | 1:02.92 |
| 24 | Alessandra Fumagalli | ITA | 28 | 5.53 | 1:02.94 |
| 25 | Anna Saulite | AUT | 27 | 5.89 | 1:02.98 |
| 26 | Julia Simmchen | SUI | 25 | 5.97 | 1:03.13 |
| 27 | Siji Song | CHN | 32 | 5.81 | 1:03.31 |
| 28 | Darta Zunte | EST | 24 | 5.69 | 1:03.39 |
| 29 | Yuxin Liang | CHN | 23 | 5.78 | 1:03.73 |
| 30 | Grace Dafoe | CAN | 31 | 5.86 | 1:03.79 |
| 31 | Aline Pelckmans | BEL | 33 | 5.97 | 1:04.12 |
| 32 | Katharina Eigenmann | LIE | 22 | 6.07 | 1:04.33 |
| 33 | Ana Torres Quevedo | ESP | 26 | 6.35 | 1:06.77 |