US athlete Hallie Clarke finishes second ahead of Kim Meylemans from Belgium
Innsbruck (RWH) Eleventh place after the first race run - and winner after the second: World Cup titleholder Kimberley Bos from the Netherlands won the BMW IBSF World Cup in women's skeleton in Innsbruck (AUT).
After a mistake at the start in the first run, starting from eleventh place into the final, the World Champonships runner-up succeeded in the second run as the first skeleton athlete ever to achieve a time under 53 seconds: 52.87 seconds by Kimberely Bos, more than six tenths of a second below the old best, now stand as a new track record for the Olympic ice track Innsbruck.
0.28 seconds behind World Cup winner Kimberley Bos, US athlete Hallie Clarke finished second in Innsbruck. After the first run in the Olympia Eiskanal, the youngest starter in the World Cup with 18 years was in the lead.
In third place Kim Meylemans (BEL, 0.33 seconds behind) in Innsbruck celebrated her second podium finish in the BMW IBSF World Cup.
Local hero Janine Flock (AUT) and World Championships bronze medallist Mirela Rahneva from Canada finished fourth 0.35 seconds behind winner Bos in Innsbruck.
Dan Zhao (CHN), surprisingly second after the first World Cup race, dropped back to eighth place in the final and missed the first ever World Cup medal for the Chinese skeleton women.
In the overall ranking for the 2022/2023 BMW IBSF World Cup, Tina Hermann's (GER) lead has shrunk from almost 100 to now 27 points before the final. Hermann, tenth in Innsbruck, goes into the final in Sigulda (LAT, February 17) with 1397 points. Kimberley Bos (NED), overall winner in 2022, follows in second place with 1370 points ahead of Mirela Rahneva (CAN, 1339).
For more detailed information including athlete profiles and results please visit ibsf.org. Photos for editorial use can be found at Flickr. ©RWH2023
Photos: IBSF / Viesturs Lacis
