From Lillehammer, NOR
(December 8, 2024) – There was a tie for gold on Sunday in the women’s skeleton European Cup race in Lillehammer.
Austria’s Julia Erlacher slid to a .13 second advantage over Michelle Toukan, with Latvia’s Marta Andzane back in third, .4 off of Erlacher’s pace. Everyone else in the 32 woman field was .4 back or farther.
In the second heat Toukan put down a solid slide to take the lead, nearly a quarter second ahead of Andzane with only Erlacher to go.
Erlacher, the previous race’s winner and already a two-time medalist on the season, matched her start time and was ahead early on in her second run. But Toukan has a cleaner slide, and Erlacher finished her run .13 back, leaving her in a tie with Toukan.
For Erlacher, the gold medal was her second straight, and third on the Europe Cup tour. She’s scored five total medals in Europe Cup action.
Toukan had previously come close to gold. In November of 2018 she was the runner up in a pair of North American Cup race in Lake Placid behind Sara Roderick. Since then, Toukan has slid all over, and been close to the podium but that gold medal has been elusive until Sunday.
Andzane’s bronze medal was the continuation of a strong start to the season, her second medal in a row and third top four to start the season.
Just off the podium were Viktoria Hansova and Annia Unterscheider, who tied for fourth, and Selina Frohberger and Stefanie Votz, who tied for sixth.
Great Britain’s Isabella Fassnidge had the fifth quickest run of the second heat and slid from 15th to a tie for 11th with Latvia’s Laura Legere. Leah Kidd finished 23rd, while Regan Walker scored a 25th place finish for the Brits.
After three races in the Europe Cup season, Julia Erlacher leads Marta Andzane by 38 points, with Michelle Toukan in third. Viktoria Dönicke and Selina Frohberger in fourth and fifth, respectively.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Finish |
| 1 | Michelle Toukan | USA | 1 | 5.18 | 5.20 | 53.04 | 53.23 | 1:46.27 |
| 1 | Julia Erlacher | AUT | 4 | 5.08 | 5.08 | 52.91 | 53.36 | 1:46.27 |
| 3 | Marta Andzane | LAT | 8 | 5.31 | 5.45 | 53.31 | 53.68 | 1:46.99 |
| 4 | Viktoria Hansova | GER | 9 | 5.21 | 5.24 | 53.62 | 53.52 | 1:47.14 |
| 4 | Annia Unterscheider | AUT | 7 | 5.39 | 5.40 | 53.66 | 53.48 | 1:47.14 |
| 6 | Selina Frohberger | GER | 5 | 5.37 | 5.40 | 53.49 | 53.81 | 1:47.30 |
| 6 | Stefanie Votz | GER | 3 | 5.56 | 5.60 | 53.63 | 53.67 | 1:47.30 |
| 8 | Yanqi Zhu | CHN | 6 | 5.17 | 5.15 | 53.84 | 53.78 | 1:47.62 |
| 9 | Viktoria Dönicke | GER | 10 | 4.95 | 4.93 | 53.69 | 53.95 | 1:47.64 |
| 10 | Darta Neimane | LAT | 19 | 5.24 | 5.28 | 53.81 | 53.89 | 1:47.70 |
| 11 | Laura Legere | LAT | 20 | 5.24 | 5.39 | 53.85 | 53.87 | 1:47.72 |
| 12 | Isabella Fassnidge | GBR | 15 | 5.16 | 5.19 | 54.13 | 53.59 | 1:47.72 |
| 13 | Charlize Reimann | GER | 11 | 5.51 | 5.50 | 53.84 | 53.91 | 4:47.75 |
| 14 | Nanna ohansen | DEN | 17 | 5.49 | 5.58 | 53.93 | 54.32 | 1:48.25 |
| 15 | Carolin Andrä | SUI | 32 | 5.22 | 5.24 | 54.23 | 54.19 | 1:48.42 |
| 16 | Angel Osakue | ITA | 26 | 5.29 | 5.31 | 54.18 | 54.38 | 1:48.56 |
| 17 | Marie Angerer | GER | 30 | 5.49 | 5.55 | 54.29 | 54.36 | 1:48.65 |
| 18 | Vanesa Vidina | LAT | 13 | 5.32 | 5.36 | 54.31 | 54.34 | 1:48.65 |
| 19 | Clara Aznar | ESP | 16 | 5.42 | 5.41 | 54.53 | 54.35 | 1:48.88 |
| 20 | Marta Jakobczyk | POL | 18 | 5.46 | 5.42 | 54.09 | 54.88 | 1:48.97 |
| 21 | Ganshuo Wang | CHN | 2 | 5.20 | 5.29 | 54.45 | 54.73 | 1:49.18 |
| 22 | Alessia Gatti | ITA | 25 | 5.08 | 5.02 | 54.58 | 54.62 | 1:49.20 |
| 23 | Leah Kidd | GBR | 12 | 5.25 | 5.31 | 54.32 | 54.95 | 1:49.27 |
| 24 | Eire Rowland-Evans | IRL | 29 | 5.35 | 5.40 | 54.76 | 54.88 | 1:49.64 |
| 25 | Regan Walker | GBR | 23 | 5.31 | 5.34 | 54.60 | 55.34 | 1:49.94 |
| 26 | Nicole Burger | RSA | 14 | 5.17 | 54.80 | |||
| 27 | Tioana Toma | ROU | 21 | 5.34 | 54.92 | |||
| 28 | Adelina Badara | ROU | 24 | 5.53 | 54.95 | |||
| 29 | Kamila Krustina | LAT | 28 | 5.38 | 55.24 | |||
| 30 | Sarah Lüscher | SUI | 27 | 5.62 | 55.70 | |||
| 31 | Florijn de Haas | NED | 22 | 5.76 | 55.98 | |||
| 32 | Yevhenila Kovalchuk | UKR | 31 | 6.13 | 58.87 |