2015/2016 IBSF World Cup – Women’s Skeleton – Race 8

From Königssee, GER

Tina Hermann hasn’t quite been dominant this season, but she’s been the strongest slider of the season, and the world champion added one more feather to her cap by winning the final race of the season in Königssee.

The German slider was the fastest in both heats, cruising to victory in her second run by .23 in that run, and .37 overall over teammate Jacqueline Lölling.

Hermann didn’t need to win to take the overall points title, but with her win, she pulled away from second place Jacqueline Lölling. Canadian Jane Channell finished third overall, with Annie O’Shea finishing fourth (out of the top 3 by 7 points). Marina Gilardoni finished 5th overall.

Marina Gilardoni held on for a bronze medal in the final race of the year, edging Latvian Lelde Priedulena by .01. Sophia Griebel made it all three German in the top five with her fifth place effort, while American Annie O’Shea capped a great season with a sixth place finish.

It was a solid day of racing across the board for the American women. Along with O’Shea’s top six finish, Kendall Wesenberg finished strong in Europe with a ninth place finish for the United States.

Just behind Wesenberg were both Canadian women, with Elisabeth Vathje and Jane Channell finishing tenth and eleventh, respectively. Each woman had one good run and one relatively bad run, finishing .08 from each other.

It was a tough final race of the season for Great Britain. Youth Olympic Games champion Ashleigh Pittaway finished 15th to lead the way for the Brits, with both Donna Creighton and Laura Deas with very tough second runs, dropping them to 19th and 20th overall.

Australian Jackie Narracott Katie Tannenbaum of the Virgin Islands finished 22nd to round out her first World Cup season.

Results:

Pos Name Nation Bib Run 1 Run 2 Total
1 Tina Hermann GER 2 51.72 51.49 1:43.21
2 Jacqueline Lölling GER 3 51.86 51.72 1:43.58
3 Marina Gilardoni SUI 8 52.05 52.03 1:44.08
4 Lelde Priedulena LAT 10 52.18 51.91 1:44.09
5 Sophia Griebel GER 5 52.29 52.26 1:44.55
6 Annie O’Shea USA 4 52.56 52.12 1:44.68
7 Janine Flock AUT 6 52.53 52.53 1:45.06
8 Kim Meylemans BEL 11 53.02 52.52 1:45.54
9 Kendall Wesenberg USA 12 53.15 52.62 1:45.77
10 Elisabeth Vathje CAN 9 53.13 52.66 1:45.79
11 Jane Channell CAN 1 52.88 52.99 1:45.87
12 Jaclyn Narracott AUS 15 53.03 52.91 1:45.94
13 Joska Le Conte NED 14 53.04 53.03 1:46.07
14 Takako Oguchi JPN 16 53.61 52.82 1:46.43
15 Ashleigh Pittaway GBR 22 53.58 52.94 1:46.52
16 Olga Potylitsina RUS 17 53.44 53.32 1:46.76
17 Carina Mair AUT 18 53.90 53.36 1:47.26
18 Renata Khuzina RUS 21 54.04 53.34 1:47.38
19 Donna Creighton GBR 13 53.90 54.27 1:48.17
20 Laura Deas GBR 7 54.04 54.97 1:49.01
21 Anastasia Shlapak RUS 19 54.47
22 Katie Tannenbaum ISV 20 54.90