Vathje wins; Rahneva third at skeleton World Cup in Winterberg
Elisabeth Vathje and Mirela Rahneva overcame bad weather conditions to finish first and third respectively at the IBSF World Cup in Winterberg, Germany.
Heavy snowfall in Winterberg put racers’ skills to the test, with each slider only having one run counting towards their final ranking.
Vathje who opened up the World Cup season with a gold medal on home soil in Whister, returned to the top of the podium. A time of 58.02 seconds put Vathje ahead of Jacqueline Loelling, who slide to silver (58.12s) on her home track.
Related: Rahneva slides to her first-ever World Cup skeleton podium
Rahneva continued her amazing breakout season in Winterberg winning bronze in 58.12s. The Canadian who made her World Cup debut at the opener in Whistler, has earned a spot on two of the circuit’s four podiums this season. After setting a start record on home soil in December, Rahneva continues to be one of the top starters, logging the second fastest time of 5.38s in Winterberg.
Canada’s skeleton athletes weren’t the only ones who had weather conditions change their competition schedule this weekend. Alex Bellemare and Anouk Purnelle-Faniel won ski slopestyle bronze medals based on their qualifying scores at the World Cup in France, after finals were cancelled due to heavy snowfall.
