From Winterberg, GER
(January 18, 2025) – Julia Taubitz went nearly wire to wire in a gold medal performance in Winterberg.
The German took the lead from the United States’ Emily Sweeney in the first heat from the eighth starting position with a track record 54.806 and watched as the remainder of the field tried to catch her but could not.
After one heat, Taubitz held a slim lead over Madeleine Egle, with USA’s Ashley Farquharson, reigning world champ Lisa Schulte and Sweeney rounding out the top five.
In the second heat Sweeney, who had won the Nations Cup qualifying run the day before, slid to the lead and picked off both Schulte and Farquharson to put herself on the podium with just Egle and Taubitz still to go.
Egle set the quick start of the competition with a 4.997, .001 quicker than Anna Berreiter in the first heat, and slid to the lead but had a few small mistakes late in her run.
That left the door wide open for Taubitz. The German came back to Egle, and was actually behind early in her run, but was quick at the bottom and finished nearly two tenths ahead of Egle for win number 30 of her career, with Egle second and Sweeney third.
Schulte took fourth, .013 out of the medals. Merle Fräbel finished fifth, and Berreiter sixth.
USA’s Summer Britcher had two consistent runs on her way to an eighth-place finish. Farquharson had trouble early in her second run and fell from third to 15th. Emma Erickson finished 22nd to round out the American effort.
Embyr-Lee Susko was the top Canadian in 17, two spots ahead of Caitlin Nash in 19th. Trinity Ellis had trouble in her opening heat run and finished 26th.
Six races into the 2024/2025 FIL World Cup season, Madeleine Egle holds a 14 point lead over Julia Taubitz. Lisa Schulte is third, Merle Fräbel fourth, and Anna Berreiter fifth, just 13 points ahead of Emily Sweeney in sixth.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Julia Taubitz | GER | 8 | 5.086 | 5.080 | 54.806 | 54.776 | 1:49.582 |
| 2 | Madeleine Egle | AUT | 16 | 5.019 | 4.997 | 54.823 | 54.957 | 1:49.780 |
| 3 | Emily Sweeney | USA | 5 | 5.047 | 5.022 | 55.006 | 54.916 | 1:49.922 |
| 4 | Lisa Schulte | AUT | 17 | 5.065 | 5.092 | 54.954 | 54.981 | 1:49.935 |
| 5 | Merle Fräbel | GER | 15 | 5.040 | 5.045 | 55.148 | 54.974 | 1:50.122 |
| 6 | Anna Berreiter | GER | 14 | 4.998 | 5.023 | 55.116 | 55.054 | 1:50.170 |
| 7 | Barbara Allmaier | AUT | 10 | 5.126 | 5.136 | 55.079 | 55.185 | 1:50.264 |
| 8 | Summer Britcher | USA | 6 | 5.050 | 5.048 | 55.125 | 55.248 | 1:50.373 |
| 9 | Melina Fischer | GER | 25 | 5.076 | 5.069 | 55.265 | 55.128 | 1:50.393 |
| 10 | Natalie Maag | SUI | 11 | 5.117 | 5.111 | 55.157 | 55.261 | 1:50.418 |
| 11 | Verena Hofer | ITA | 9 | 5.015 | 5.006 | 55.393 | 55.186 | 1:50.579 |
| 12 | Elina Bota | LAT | 13 | 5.024 | 5.037 | 55.425 | 55.204 | 1:50.629 |
| 13 | Sandra Robatscher | ITA | 3 | 5.041 | 5.062 | 55.481 | 55.391 | 1:50.872 |
| 14 | Tove Kohala | SWE | 2 | 5.128 | 5.152 | 55.266 | 55.651 | 1:50.917 |
| 15 | Ashley Farquharson | USA | 12 | 5.096 | 5.178 | 54.888 | 56.154 | 1:51.042 |
| 16 | Kendija Aparjode | LAT | 7 | 5.103 | 5.200 | 55.247 | 55.933 | 1:51.180 |
| 17 | Ember-Lee Susko | LCAN | 28 | 5.158 | 5.141 | 55.669 | 55.597 | 1:51.266 |
| 18 | Ioana-Corina Buzatoiu | ROU | 18 | 5.075 | 5.107 | 55.680 | 56.060 | 1:51.740 |
| 19 | Caitlin Nash | CAN | 19 | 5.064 | 5.085 | 55.619 | 56.266 | 1:52.885 |
| 20 | Margita Sirsnina | LAT | 1 | 5.105 | 55.691 | |||
| 21 | Klaudia Domaradzka | POL | 29 | 5.087 | 55.717 | |||
| 22 | Emma Erickson | USA | 23 | 5.125 | 55.743 | |||
| 23 | Nina Zöggeler | ITA | 21 | 5.118 | 55.858 | |||
| 24 | Veronica Ravenna | ARG | 20 | 5.222 | 55.870 | |||
| 25 | Yulianna Tunytska | UKR | 22 | 5.027 | 55.896 | |||
| 26 | Trinity Ellis | CAN | 24 | 5.162 | 56.033 | |||
| 27 | Olena Smaha | UKR | 26 | 5.095 | 56.206 | |||
| 28 | Peixuan Wang | CHN | 30 | 5.052 | 56.220 | |||
| 29 | Huilan Hu | CHN | 27 | 5.182 | 56.296 | |||
| DNF | Dorothea Schwarz | AUT | 4 | 5.112 | 5.109 | 55.190 | DNF |