Skeleton racer Hallie Clarke eyes the future after ‘bittersweet’ Olympic debut
With Hallie Clarke and Jane Channell both competing for Team Canada, Milano Cortina 2026 represented a passing of the torch in women’s skeleton.
Fittingly, the two Canadians would place one after the other in the final standings on Day 8.
Channell, a 37-year-old in her third Olympic Games, finished in 18th with an overall time of 3:52.96 after four runs. Clarke, the 21-year-old Olympic newcomer, finished in 19th with a time of 3:53.02.
But for Clarke, who won individual gold at the 2024 IBSF World Championships, the result was, in her words, “bittersweet”. She had a good start in the first run but lost some time on the track, ultimately clocking the 21st-fastest time.
She would pick things up in the subsequent three runs, including a personal best in the fourth run on Saturday. Her fourth-run time of 57.98 seconds was just 0.7 seconds off the pace set by gold medallist Janine Flock of Austria.
Still, Clarke was left “a bit disappointed” by the eventual result.
“I didn’t have expectations for myself coming into this,” she said. “I was a bit hard on myself, but, I’m really proud of how I picked it up today and I had a huge PB on the last run.
“So I guess if there’s a way to finish it, it’s on that.”
Clarke said that this quadrennial cycle has featured “a lot of highs and lows” but that she’s already looking ahead to French Alps 2030.
“This is unfortunately one of the lows, never what you want in the Olympics,” she said. “But it’s just, you know, chalk it up to more experience and bring that into the next quad.”
For her teammate Channell, the mood was noticeably more upbeat after the end of competition.
Having had to compete under pandemic restrictions at Beijing 2022, Channell was thrilled to have friends and family in attendance at Milano Cortina 2026.
“Overall it was a fantastic Olympic Games,” she said. “The setting, come on! The Dolomites [mountain range], the views. You can’t get any better than this, so it’s been a really great, great time.”
Although it wasn’t her best Olympic result (she finished 10th at PyeongChang 2018) Channell didn’t have regrets about her performance.
“You always want more; there’s never a race — unless you win it — where that’s not the case,” she said. “So, were there mistakes? Yes. Did I do the best I could? Yes.”
But beyond her own performance, Channell is pleased to be part of bringing Clarke and fellow youngster Josip Brusic onto the Olympic scene in skeleton.
“To be a part of their Olympic journey and a part of their beginnings … I’m really grateful for that opportunity,” said Channell. “I can’t wait to see what they’ll do and what the next generation will do.”
