From Lillehammer, NOR
(January 26, 2024) – Hannah Neise didn’t have the quickest run in either heat in Lillehammer, but that didn’t matter, as she slid to the second World Cup gold medal of her career in Norway.
Neise sat third after the first heat, behind Belgium’s Kim Meylemans and the United States’ Mystique Ro. All three women had broken the previous track record (53.03 by Corinna Leipold of Germany), and Ro had shattered the start record as the first ever woman to push a sub-five second start.
Just out of the lead sat World Cup leader Kimberley Bos and Austrian veteran Janine Flock, tied in fourth and looking to move onto the podium.
In the second heat Bos edged out Flock by .06 to take the lead with the top three still to go.
Up next was Neise. The reigning Olympic champion picked up .05 from her first start, and matched her second downtime exactly to take the lead from Bos by .06.
Ro’s second effort was much like her first: Her push was massive, .01 off her first start time but still under the old start record, and her slide down was a little bumpy late as she crossed the line just .05 behind Neise to guarantee herself the second podium of her career.
The final slider of the day in Lillehammer was Meylemans. The Belgian was looking for her fourth career World Cup medal, and first gold. A few mistakes early in her run began to compile down the track, and her second downtime was well off the pace of her first but still enough to drop her into fifth, just behind Flock.
The end result was the second gold of the day for Germany in Lillehammer, with Neise beating out Ro to win the third World Cup medal of her career and first of the 2023/2024 season.
Ro’s silver medal was her second in six career starts, while Bos took bronze for her fourth straight medal.
Flock missed her first podium of the season with a fourth place finish, while Meylemans finished fifth, tying her season best.
Great Britain’s Amelia Coltman not only scored her first top ten, but found her way onto the extended podium in sixth place.
For the United States, Katie Uhlaender continued her strong return to World Cup action. One race after scoring her first World Cup medal in a decade she had two consistent slides on her way to a eighth place finish. Michelle Toukan made her World Cup debut and slid from 22nd in the first run to 20th, while Sara Roderick put all four American sleds in the top 25 with a 25th finish.
Canada had a great race in Lillehammer. Hallie Clarke entered the second heat in 13th place, but had the fourth quickest run of the second heat to move up to seventh place. Teammate Mimi Rahneva had two of the best pushes of her season on her way to an 11th place finish.
Tabitha Stoecker had a much better second run and climbed from 17th in the first heat to 12th, two spots ahead of teammate Freyta Tarbit in 16th.
After five races on the IBSF World Cup season, Kimberley Bos has a 178 point lead over Kim Meylemans in second. Italy’s Valentina Margaglio is third, ten points behind Meylemans. Tina Hermann and Janine Flock are fourth and fifth.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Hannah Neise | GER | 14 | 5.28 | 5.23 | 52.97 | 52.97 | 1:45.94 |
| 2 | Mystique Ro | USA | 17 | 4.97 | 4.98 | 52.93 | 53.06 | 1:45.99 |
| 3 | Kimberley Bos | NED | 5 | 5.11 | 5.10 | 53.07 | 52.93 | 1:46.00 |
| 4 | Janine Flock | AUT | 8 | 5.27 | 5.24 | 53.07 | 52.99 | 1:46.06 |
| 5 | Kim Meylemans | BEL | 10 | 5.08 | 5.07 | 52.88 | 53.23 | 1:46.11 |
| 6 | Amelia Coltman | GBR | 22 | 5.17 | 5.19 | 53.14 | 53.12 | 1:46.26 |
| 7 | Hallie Clarke | CAN | 16 | 5.07 | 5.10 | 53.29 | 52.98 | 1:46.27 |
| 8 | Katie Uhlaender | USA | 26 | 5.27 | 5.28 | 53.16 | 53.16 | 1:46.32 |
| 9 | Jacqueline Pfeifer | GER | 13 | 5.33 | 5.33 | 53.25 | 53.10 | 1:46.35 |
| 10 | Nicole Silveira | BRA | 4 | 5.27 | 5.22 | 53.18 | 53.21 | 1:46.39 |
| 11 | Mirela Rahneva | CAN | 15 | 5.09 | 5.08 | 53.20 | 53.20 | 1:46.40 |
| 12 | Tabitha Stoecker | GBR | 12 | 5.03 | 5.01 | 53.49 | 52.97 | 1:46.46 |
| 13 | Susanne Kreher | GER | 9 | 5.21 | 5.13 | 53.36 | 53.17 | 1:46.53 |
| 14 | Tina Hermann | GER | 6 | 5.34 | 5.34 | 53.22 | 53.37 | 1:46.59 |
| 15 | Alessia Crippa | ITA | 19 | 5.11 | 5.08 | 53.58 | 53.20 | 1:46.78 |
| 16 | Freya Tarbit | GBR | 25 | 5.07 | 5.12 | 53.38 | 53.52 | 1:46.90 |
| 17 | Yuxi Li | CHN | 18 | 5.24 | 5.23 | 53.43 | 53.57 | 1:47.00 |
| 18 | Dan Zhao | CHN | 11 | 5.22 | 5.14 | 53.26 | 53.75 | 1:47.01 |
| 19 | Valentina Margaglio | ITA | 7 | 5.02 | 5.12 | 53.67 | 53.56 | 1:47.23 |
| 20 | Michelle Toukan | USA | 32 | 5.24 | 5.13 | 53.85 | 53.73 | 1:47.58 |
| 21 | Aline Pelckmans | BEL | 3 | 5.34 | 5.32 | 53.73 | 53.91 | 1:47.64 |
| 22 | Sara Schmied | SUI | 1 | 5.16 | 5.24 | 53.71 | 54.01 | 1:47.72 |
| 23 | Annia Unterscheider | AUT | 30 | 5.44 | 5.44 | 53.94 | 53.83 | 1:47.77 |
| 24 | Anna Fernstädt | CZE | 20 | 5.31 | 5.33 | 53.89 | 53.95 | 1:47.84 |
| 25 | Sara Roderick | USA | 23 | 5.10 | 5.12 | 53.94 | 53.94 | 1:47.88 |
| 26 | Julia Erlacher | AUT | 27 | 5.11 | 53.97 | |||
| 27 | Kellie Delka | PUR | 24 | 5.29 | 54.00 | |||
| 28 | Alessandra Fumagalli | ITA | 21 | 5.11 | 54.03 | |||
| 29 | Julia Simmchen | SUI | 29 | 5.45 | 54.62 | |||
| 30 | Katharina Eigenmann | LIE | 2 | 5.56 | 54.64 | |||
| 31 | Laura Vargas | COL | 31 | 5.45 | 54.74 | |||
| 32 | Ana Torres Quevedo | ESP | 28 | 5.75 | 55.42 |
