BMW IBSF World Championships in Innsbruck: Gold for skeleton slider Tina Hermann
Local hero Janine Flock collects silver, bronze for Elena Nikitina

Innsbruck (RWH) Skeleton gold for Tina Hermann in the BMW IBSF World Championships in Innsbruck (AUT): the current leader of the World Cup standings won Germany’s first World Championship title in the women’s skeleton in five years. The last female skeleton slider to take gold was Marion Thees in 2011.
After the four runs, Hermann, who came fifth in last year’s World Championships, had a 0.46 second lead on local star Janine Flock. Cheered on by fans, friends and family on her local track, two-time European Champion Flock took silver, and Austria’s first ever medal in a women’s skeleton World Championship.
Bronze in Innsbruck went to Elena Nikitina from Russia (0.59 seconds behind), who notched up the fastest start times in all four runs. The medal was the first in an individual World Championship race for the Sochi Olympic bronze medallist. Nikitina was on the Russian team that took silver in last weekend’s team event.
European Championship bronze medallist Marina Gilardoni of Switzerland shot up from fourteenth after the first run to finish fourth after the final run. Anne O’Shea of the USA was fifth, and Elisabeth Vathje of Canada, who came third in last year’s event, was sixth. Kimberly Bos of the Netherlands came in a surprise eighth in her first ever World Championship.
Complete results lists showing all race times and overall times in the BMW IBSF World Championships 2016 in Innsbruck can be found at ibsf.org, via Twitter (@IBSFsliding), on the official IBSF website, and on the IBSF Facebook group.©RWH2015-2016

Quotes

Tina Hermann (GER, fifth in 2015 World Championships, current leader in BMW IBSF World Cup)
“What an amazing feeling, I can’t really believe I did it! Of course I was nervous before the fourth run, especially because I’d heard the crowds cheering Janine. But I knew I could do it. After all, I’ve got a track record here.”

Janine Flock (AUT, 2015 and 2016 European Champion, overall 2015 World Cup winner)
“Congratulations to Tina, she’s a great athlete! I’m over the moon. It was a fantastic experience. I was really, really nervous, and it still hasn’t really sunk in. It’s so awesome with all my people here: what more could I want?”

Elena Nikitina (RUS, bronze at 2014 Olympics)
“I’m so happy, especially when I think of last year’s World Championships. I didn’t expect the medal, because I was in tenth after the first run. But somehow I found the strength.”