From Lake Placid, USA
(March 7, 2025) – Kimberley Bos slid from behind after the first heat to take the overnight lead in Lake Placid for the IBSF World Championships women’s skeleton race. But on the second day she put down a dominating performance to win The Netherlands’ first ever skeleton world championship.
Bos led things off in the third heat with a track record run 54.49 that was .09 quicker than the subsequent run put down by Czechia’s Anna Fernstädt. Behind the duo, USA’s Mystique Ro overcame a disappointing second run to slide into third place after three heats, breaking a tie with Brazil’s Nicole Silveira and putting the American solidly in the medal hunt with one run to go.
With the top three well ahead of the pack, the order of the medals would be decided between Bos, Fernstädt, and Ro. Ro was first off and had another quick and clean run to guarantee the United States its first medal of the 2025 World Championships.
Up next was Fernstädt. The Czech star had another quick run going in her fourth effort, but the speed wasn’t quite there this time. Her fourth and final run was the ninth quickest of the heat, and while not enough to hold off Ro, was still enough to place herself on the podium with Bos to go.
The fourth start for Bos was her slowest of the competition. But from there Bos nearly mirrored her third effort and in what was an otherwise close race to that point finished .67 ahead of Ro for her first world championship title, with Ro silver and Fernstädt bronze.
“This means a lot to me,” Bos reflected after the race. “I’ve really wanted to win a world championship and honestly, being in the lead I thought “Well I have a good shot might as well make something of it!” I had my moments where I was really, really nervous, but once I got to the track yesterday I was like “I know what I’m doing, this is the plan, we’ll do it run-for-run.”
For Ro, a silver medal came at the end of a long, but successful season.
“This is so rewarding for a long season,” Ro said. “It’s been stressful to go all over the world it’s just nice to feel love and support in person. It’s so special!”
After a disappointing season in the 2023/2024 season, to cap the 2024/2025 season with a medal was a great finish for Fernstädt.
“It’s very unexpected,” Fernstädt said. “After last season, this season was much better. But I never would have thought that this is how my season would end. Lake Placid is my favorite track. I’m very happy that this ended like this. I was a little nervous after my last warmup, but come race time I wasn’t terribly nervous!”
Brazil’s Nicole Silveira had four runs all in the top seven on her way to a fourth place finish. Behind her, World Cup champion Janine Flock came into the final heat in tenth place, but put down the second quickest time of the final heat to slide to fifth.
Germany’s Susanne Kreher rallied from a disappointing first run to eventually finish sixth.
Defending world champion Hallie Clarke lingered around the top six for the entire event but had a bumpy final run and finished seventh. Teammate Jane Channell finished 12th on the strength of a top six final run.
For the Americans, Kelly Curtis finished tenth with a fifth quickest run in the second heat, while 2012 world champion finished a handful of spots back in 13th.
Tabitha Stoecker led the way for Great Britain in eighth. She had the fourth quickest run in three of the four heats, but her second run dropped her back to 14th at halftime but she was able to rally back to the top ten. Amelia Coltman finished 14th, with Freya Tarbit improving in every run on her way to an 18th place finish.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | WC Rank | Run 1 | Run 2 | Run 3 | Run 4 | Total |
| 1 | Kimberley Bos | NED | 2 | 2 | 55.63 | 55.24 | 54.49 | 54.70 | 3:40.06 |
| 2 | Mystique Ro | USA | 11 | 12 | 55.53 | 55.67 | 54.60 | 54.93 | 3:40.73 |
| 3 | Anna Fernstädt | CZE | 13 | 11 | 55.69 | 55.37 | 54.58 | 55.17 | 3:40.81 |
| 4 | Nicole Silveira | BRA | 3 | 6 | 55.76 | 55.44 | 54.89 | 55.14 | 3:41.23 |
| 5 | Janine Flock | AUT | 1 | 1 | 55.82 | 55.64 | 55.01 | 54.91 | 3:41.38 |
| 6 | Susanne Kreher | GER | 9 | 9 | 56.14 | 55.46 | 54.83 | 54.99 | 3:41.42 |
| 7 | Hallie Clarke | CAN | 14 | 17 | 55.72 | 55.37 | 55.03 | 55.31 | 3:41.43 |
| 8 | Tabitha Stoecker | GBR | 8 | 7 | 55.65 | 56.11 | 54.78 | 54.94 | 3:41.48 |
| 9 | Yuxi Li | CHN | 19 | 19 | 55.80 | 55.52 | 54.99 | 55.28 | 3:41.59 |
| 10 | Kelly Curtis | USA | 18 | 20 | 55.89 | 55.44 | 55.09 | 55.18 | 3:41.60 |
| 11 | Kim Meylemans | BEL | 7 | 13 | 55.47 | 55.82 | 55.08 | 55.65 | 3:42.02 |
| 12 | Jane Channell | CAN | 15 | 15 | 55.85 | 55.85 | 55.34 | 55.11 | 3:42.15 |
| 13 | Katie Uhlaender | USA | 20 | 18 | 55.90 | 55.75 | 55.27 | 55.53 | 3:42.45 |
| 14 | Amelia Coltman | GBR | 5 | 4 | 56.17 | 55.98 | 55.22 | 55.15 | 3:42.52 |
| 15 | Dan Zhao | CHN | 12 | 10 | 56.19 | 55.08 | 55.59 | 55.69 | 3:42.55 |
| 16 | Jacqueline Pfeifer | GER | 6 | 5 | 56.44 | 55.72 | 55.16 | 55.41 | 3:42.73 |
| 17 | Hannah Neise | GER | 4 | 3 | 56.50 | 56.10 | 55.10 | 55.67 | 3:43.37 |
| 18 | Freya Tarbit | GBR | 10 | 8 | 56.84 | 56.30 | 55.15 | 55.21 | 3:43.50 |
| 19 | Alessia Crippa | ITA | 21 | 22 | 56.54 | 56.24 | 55.40 | 56.00 | 3:44.18 |
| 20 | Valentina Margaglio | ITA | 17 | 16 | 56.20 | 56.29 | 55.55 | 56.17 | 3:44.21 |
| 21 | Julia Erlacher | AUT | 16 | 31 | 56.46 | 56.69 | 56.08 | 55.78 | 3:45.01 |
| 22 | Julia Simmchen | SUI | 23 | 28 | 57.12 | 56.38 | 55.86 | 55.92 | 3:45.28 |
| 23 | Aline Pelckmans | BEL | 26 | 30 | 56.73 | 56.53 | 56.06 | 56.40 | 3:45.72 |
| 24 | Kellie Delka | PUR | 24 | 33 | 56.47 | 56.76 | 56.68 | 56.48 | 3:46.39 |
| 25 | Sara Schmied | SUI | 22 | 24 | 57.19 | 56.83 | 56.18 | 56.24 | 3:46.44 |
| 26 | Laura Vargas | COL | 25 | 38 | 57.46 | 57.19 | 57.01 | 2:51.66 | |
| 27 | Clara Aznar | ESP | 27 | 42 | 58.18 | 57.24 | 56.49 | 2:51.91 | |
| 28 | Shannon Galea | MLT | 29 | 43 | 59.41 | 59.21 | 57.60 | 2:56.12 | |
| DNS | Ana Torres Quevedo | ESP | 28 | 37 | DNS | DNS |