Viktoria Cernanska wins silver, Celine Harms takes the bronze
St. Moritz (RWH) Georgeta Popescu of Romania is the 2020 Youth Olympic Champion in the women’s monobob. At St. Moritz-Celerina Olympia Bobrun (SUI), the 17-year-old bobsleigh pilot achieved the best time in both heats. At the end of the two runs, the Romanian athlete had a 0.51-second lead over Viktoria Cernanska of Slovakia.
Cernanska, who won five out of her six qualification races ahead of the Youth Winter Olympic Games, slid into the silver-medal spot by just one hundredth of a second during the second heat in St. Moritz.
Third place and the bronze medal in St. Moritz went to Celine Harms of Germany. After finishing on the podium twice during qualification, the 16-year-old was a firm favourite for a medal from the start. And even though second place at the end of heat one was not quite enough to win the silver medal, the up-and-coming German pilot celebrated her medal with friends and family at the track.
The two local heroes from Switzerland, Emily Kilburn and Sara Synder, finished the Youth Winter Olympic Games in St. Moritz in 6th and 11th place.
A total of 18 pilots from 15 countries raced in the women's monobob at the 2020 Youth Winter Olympic Games in Lausanne.
Georgeta Popescu (ROU): “Ahead of the race, I was confident and assured that I could win. Even before the second heat, I just concentrated on the race.”
Viktoria Cernanska (SVK): “I am really happy with silver and am pleased with my two good runs. It was a really tight race with just one hundredth of a second between silver and bronze.”
Celine Harms (GER): “I can’t actually believe that I’ve won a medal. My goal was to finish in the top six. It’s hard to believe that I’ve now got bronze, even though it’s a bit annoying that there was only one hundredth of a second between silver and bronze.”
Photo: Thomas Lovelock for OIS
