Kimberley Bos second in Innsbruck, Valentina Margaglio with first podium for Italy
Innsbruck (RWH) Skeleton athlete Elena Nikitina of Russia is the winner at the BMW IBSF World Cup in Innsbruck (AUT). One week after her opening victory in Innsbruck, the overall World Cup winner of 2019 also won the second race of the Olympic season.
Second place went to Kimberley Bos from the Netherlands (0.20 seconds back) on the Olympic ice track in Igls above Innsbruck, also like in the previous week. Last winter's overall World Cup bronze medallist was thus outside the podium only once in ten BMW IBSF World Cup races in the past twelve months.
Valentina Margaglio (ITA, 0.45 seconds back) made a small piece of sporting history in third place. She was the first skeleton athlete from Italy to celebrate a podium finish in the race series. The 28-year-old, the 2020 World Championships bronze medallist in skeleton mixed, clocked the best time in the second race run and moved up from eighth place after the first run to a podium finish.
World Cup defending champion and local hero Janine Flock (AUT) came in seventh at the same time as US athlete Megan Henry (USA). Both athletes clocked exactly the same time in both runs.
World Cup debutant in Innsbruck was Yuxi Li from the team of Olympic host China. The 23-year-old has so far competed in the IBSF Europe Cup in the winter of 2021/2022 and won four out of five races in the series. She finished 18th in the BMW IBSF World Cup in Innsbruck, while teammate Dan Zhao, seventh in the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games, was 15th.
In the BMW IBSF World Cup 2021-2022, Elena Nikitina (RUS, 450 points) is leading after the second of eight stops, ahead of Kimberely Bos (NED, 420). Valentina Margaglio is third (384 points).
For more detailed information including athlete profiles and World Cup results please visit ibsf.org. Photos for editorial use can be found at Flickr. ©RWH2021
Photos: IBSF / Viesturs Lacis
