IBSF World Cup: Vathje and Greszczyszyn reach skeleton podium in Winterberg
Elisabeth Vathje and Dave Greszczyszyn found the IBSF World Cup skeleton podium, claiming silver and bronze respectively on Friday morning in Germany.
Here are the details.
Women’s Skeleton
Vathje finished with a combined time of one minute 56.10 seconds to land silver. World Champion Jacqueline Loelling secured the win on her home track, with a time of 1:55.86s. Russia’s Elena Nikitina who was tied for first after the opening run, finish 0.01s behind Vathje for third.
Related: Vathje wins skeleton opener silver
Although winter was in full force in Germany, Vathje was able to come back from her fourth place ranking after the first heat. “With the snow, the first run was really tricky. But my equipment always runs well here in Winterberg; the sled really flies!” Vathje told IBSF sliding.
The competition in Winterberg marks the fourth stop on the IBSF World Cup circuit and Vathje’s second silver of the season. Vathje is currently ranked second on the tour thus far, fellow Canadians Mirela Rahneva and Jane Channell are fourth and fifth respectively.
Men’s Skeleton
Weather conditions took a turn for the worse when it was time for the men’s competition, which lead to the second runs being cancelled due to heavy snow. However, Dave Greszczyszyn was able to make the most out of his run in Winterberg, clocking 56.88 seconds to claim bronze for his first-ever World Cup podium.
“I know the Winterberg track and had some good results here in European Cup and Intercontinental Cup. I had a good start in first run and then tried to stay quiet and let the sled do its work. I cannot complain today,” Greszczyszyn told IBSF sliding following his run.
Gold went to Sungbin Yun of Korea, who secured his third win of the season with a time of 56.62s. The silver went to Latvia World Champion Martins Dukurs who stopped the clock at 56.68s.
