From Lillehammer, NOR
(February 7, 2025) – Generally speaking, the racing in Lillehammer is tight. In the men’s race earlier in the day for instance, the top five were separated by less than a quarter of a second with fourth place missing out on a medal by just .02. So it would make sense if the usually close women’s field was again very tight in the season finale.
Janine Flock did not get the memo.
Flock destroyed the old track record by .83 in her first run to take a .33 lead over the United States’ Mystique Ro, with Great Britain’s Amelia Coltman in third nearly a half of a second back.
In the second heat Flock simply needed to get down the track on her runners to win both the race and her third World Cup title. She did just that and then some, as she nearly matched her own track record on her way to a .46 second victory.
The win was Flock’s third straight on the season and 13th of her career.
Behind Flock, Mystique Ro returned to where she’d won a silver medal a year ago and once again took second place. While she wasn’t able to keep pace with Flock over two runs, she was .39 ahead of anyone else behind her for her fifth World Cup women’s skeleton medal and sixth medal on the World Cup tour including the Mixed Team event.
Rounding out the podium was Amelia Coltman. Coltman had won the season opener in Pyeongchang and had a few top six finishes but hadn’t found the podium since. That changed in Friday’s finale, where she beat Kimberley Bos by two tenths of a second for the final podium position.
Bos was fourth, .15 ahead of Susanne Kreher in fifth, with Nicole Silveira rounding out the top six.
The race also doubled as the European Championship. In that, Flock won Austria’s second title of the day, with Coltman silver and Bos bronze.
The United States’ Kelly Curtis matched last race’s season-best seventh-place in St. Moritz with another Lillehammer, up from 11th in the first heat. Teammate Sara Roderick’s second effort was nearly a half second quicker than her first and enough to move from 22nd in the first heat to 19th, while Katie Uhlaender finished in a tie for 21st to round out the American effort.
With her win, Janine Flock won the season title by 150 pionts ahead of Kimberley Bos. Bos’s fourth place race finish was enough to leapfrog Hannah Neise by just 13 points. Amelia Coltman finished the season in fourth place, with her bronze medal placing her just three points ahead of Jacqueline Pfeifer in fifth.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Janine Flock | AUT | 5 | 5.23 | 5.20 | 52.05 | 52.08 | 1:44.13 |
| 2 | Mystique Ro | USA | 13 | 5.02 | 5.04 | 52.38 | 52.21 | 1:44.59 |
| 3 | Amelia Coltman | GBR | 3 | 5.13 | 5.14 | 52.54 | 52.44 | 1:44.98 |
| 4 | Kimberley Bos | NED | 2 | 5.12 | 5.16 | 52.58 | 52.60 | 1:45.18 |
| 5 | Susanne Kreher | GER | 6 | 5.18 | 5.14 | 52.72 | 52.61 | 1:45.33 |
| 6 | Nicole Silveira | BRA | 9 | 5.23 | 5.24 | 52.73 | 52.67 | 1:45.40 |
| 7 | Kelly Curtis | USA | 11 | 5.16 | 5.14 | 52.81 | 52.60 | 1:45.41 |
| 8 | Jacqueline Pfeifer | GER | 4 | 5.33 | 5.30 | 52.79 | 52.69 | 1:45.48 |
| 9 | Hannah Neise | GER | 1 | 5.29 | 5.31 | 52.79 | 52.72 | 1:45.51 |
| 10 | Dan Zhao | CHN | 18 | 5.20 | 5.18 | 52.91 | 52.67 | 1:45.58 |
| 10 | Tabitha Stoecker | GBR | 8 | 4.95 | 4.95 | 52.78 | 52.80 | 1:45.58 |
| 12 | Viktoria Dönicke | GER | 15 | 4.96 | 4.97 | 53.06 | 52.67 | 1:45.73 |
| 13 | Yuxi Li | CHN | 17 | 5.15 | 5.13 | 53.01 | 52.80 | 1:45.81 |
| 14 | Freya Tarbit | GBR | 7 | 5.14 | 5.19 | 52.80 | 53.14 | 1:45.94 |
| 15 | Anna Fernstädt | CZE | 10 | 5.27 | 5.29 | 53.11 | 52.88 | 1:45.99 |
| 16 | Valentina Margaglio | ITA | 20 | 4.98 | 5.01 | 53.13 | 52.91 | 1:46.04 |
| 17 | Julia Erlacher | AUT | 12 | 5.10 | 5.13 | 53.38 | 52.96 | 1:46.34 |
| 18 | Alessandra Fumagalli | ITA | 33 | 5.12 | 5.09 | 53.19 | 53.18 | 1:46.37 |
| 19 | Sara Roderick | USA | 16 | 5.12 | 5.11 | 53.46 | 52.98 | 1:46.44 |
| 20 | Yuxin Liang | CHN | 29 | 5.21 | 5.23 | 53.43 | 53.35 | 1:46.78 |
| 21 | Darta Zunte | EST | 35 | 5.19 | 5.20 | 53.51 | 53.31 | 1:46.82 |
| 21 | Katie Uhlaender | USA | 19 | 5.35 | 5.35 | 53.38 | 53.44 | 1:46.82 |
| 23 | Sara Schmied | SUI | 22 | 5.19 | 5.22 | 53.36 | 53.55 | 1:46.91 |
| 24 | Siji Song | CHN | 27 | 5.29 | 5.28 | 53.54 | 53.39 | 1:46.93 |
| 25 | Alessia Crippa | ITA | 14 | 5.19 | 5.21 | 53.52 | 53.46 | 1:46.98 |
| 26 | Darta Neimane | LAT | 21 | 5.20 | 53.80 | |||
| 27 | Nanna Johansen | DEN | 31 | 5.44 | 53.89 | |||
| 28 | Julia Simmchen | SUI | 26 | 5.47 | 54.03 | |||
| 29 | Nicole Burger | RSA | 28 | 5.25 | 54.04 | |||
| 30 | Aline Pelckmans | BEL | 32 | 6.43 | 54.30 | |||
| 31 | Katharina Eigenmann | LIE | 25 | 5.58 | 54.74 | |||
| 32 | Adelina Badara | ROU | 23 | 5.62 | 55.06 | |||
| 33 | Clara Aznar | ESP | 30 | 5.32 | 55.18 | |||
| 34 | Hannah Russwurm | FIN | 24 | 5.51 | 55.19 | |||
| 35 | Shannon Galea | MLT | 36 | 5.52 | 55.30 | |||
| 36 | Ana Torres Quevedo | ESP | 34 | 5.54 | 55.72 |