Mirela Rahneva finishes second in Winterberg ahead of Janine Flock
Winterberg (RWH): A lead of three hundredths of a second was enough to secure gold: The women’s skeleton World Champion, Tina Hermann of Germany, has won the BMW IBSF World Cup in Winterberg. In what proved to be a tough race, the 27-year-old managed to make up the decisive split seconds she needed to win over the last few metres of heat two. By the end of the race, Tina Hermann had a 0.03-second lead over Canada’s Mirela Rahneva and thus secured her first win of the season. European Champion Janine Flock of Austria (0.16 seconds behind) finished in third in Winterberg.
Marina Gilardoni of Switzerland celebrated her best result in almost four years in fifth. The last time the Swiss athlete performed better was 2016 when she finished third in Königssee.
In her third ever World Cup race, Megan Henry of the USA celebrated her best result to date in seventh.
Another athlete in Winterberg celebrating her best result was Valentina Margaglio of Italy. After finishing 17th in heat one, she achieved one of the best times for the second heat and climbed to 11th, where she was tied with Anna Fernstädtova (CZE).
In the overall standings for the 2019/2020 BMW IBSF World Cup, Olympic silver medallist Jacqueline Lölling (GER, 627 points) managed to defend her lead with a fourth-place finish in Winterberg. Janine Flock (AUT, 610) is second overall ahead of Tina Hermann (GER, 601).
Further information, the World Cup results and the latest overall standings are available at ibsf.org. ©RWH2020
