Silver for GER II with defending champions Lölling/Gassner, Nikitina/Tretiakov take bronze
Altenberg (RWH) Tina Hermann and Christopher Grotheer (GER), the newly crowned World Champions in women's and men's skeleton, also won gold together in the Mixed Team competition at the BMW IBSF World Championships 2021 in Altenberg (GER).
The World Champion duo, competing as GER I, relegated GER II teammates Jacqueline Lölling/Alexander Gassner to silver. Lölling/Gassner, who had won the World Championships premiere in skeleton mixed in Altenberg in 2020, were 0.14 seconds behind the winning team after their two runs.
World Championship bronze in Altenberg went to the European Champions: Elena Nikitina/Alexander Tretiakov (BFR/Bobsleigh Federation of Russia, 0.15 seconds back).
The youngest team at the start, Junior European Champion Anlina Tararychankova and Junior World Champion Evgeniy Rukosuev (BFR), was in the lead for a long time. The 20 and 21-year-old athletes ended up in fifth place.
Valentina Margaglio and Mattia Gaspari (ITA), who surprisingly won bronze and the first medal for Italy at the Skeleton World Championships in 2020, did not compete as a duo this time: Margaglio finished eighth with Amedeo Bagnis, Gaspari ninth with Alessia Crippa.
In the Skeleton Mixed Team Competition, teams consisting of one female athlete and one male athlete compete against each other. The two run times of the team members are added together, the team with the lowest total time wins the Skeleton Mixed World Championships. ©RWH2021
For more detailed information including athlete profiles and results please visit ibsf.org. Photos for editorial use can be found at Flickr. ©RWH2021
Photos: IBSF / Viesturs Lacis
