From Cortina d’Ampezzo, ITA
(November 21, 2025) – It had been a bit since Jacqueline Pfeifer had found the top of the IBSF World Cup podium. So far back that her last name at the time was not Pfeifer, and the track she won on has been out of commission for a few years. But on Friday she once again won gold, this time on the Olympic track in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Pfeifer was strong out of the gate with a top 20 start time and a slide under 58 seconds, the only woman to do so in the first heat. Behind her was Olympic champion Hannah Neise and Belgium’s Kim Meylemans, both well within reach of bouncing Pfeifer from the top.
In the second heat Meylemans was .21 quicker than her first run and that was more than enough to move her ahead of the reigning World Cup champion, Austria’s Janine Flock. Neise was next, and while she fell behind early, she was able to rally back to edge out the Belgian by .09 to ensure Germany a gold medal regardless of what Pfeifer did.
But Pfeifer was not going to be denied gold. In a heat where nearly everyone was slower at the start compared to their first effort Pfeifer matched her first start time. She pulled away from her teammate throughout the run and lowered her track record by .05 to a 57.94 as the only woman to ever slide Cortina d’Ampezzo in under 58 seconds.
Her win was her first since January of 2021 in Königssee when she was still sliding as Jacqueline Lölling. The gold was also her first medal of any kind since Winterberg in January of 2022.
For Neise and Meylemans, their respective silver and bronze medals were the ninth of their World Cup careers.
Flock finished the race in fourth, as she leapfrogged Great Britain’s Tabitha Stoecker for the position. Stoecker took fifth and Canada’s Hallie Clarke sixth.
Great Britain’s Amelia Coltman and Freya Tarbit both had some issues in their second heats, as Coltman fell to tenth from seventh and Tarbit 17th from 11th.
Kelly Curtis led the way for the United States with a 20th place effort. Kendall Wesenberg had trouble on the load in her second start and finished 23rd, one spot ahead of teammate Sara Roderick in 24th. Mystique Ro had a very solid start but a bumpy run that left her out of the second heat in 26th.
Canada’s Jane Channell had a strong second run after a first slide she didn’t seem terribly thrilled with and finished 15th.
The Italian women fared a bit better than their male counterparts. Neither Alessandra Fumagalli or Valentina Margaglio looked terribly happy with their first runs, but both put down strong second efforts to move up from 14th to ninth and 18th to 14th respectively. Fumagalli’s finish was the second best of her career after an eighth place in Lillihammer.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Jacqueline Pfeifer | GER | 6 | 5.05 | 5.05 | 57.99 | 57.94 | 1:55.93 |
| 2 | Hannah Neise | GER | 3 | 5.07 | 5.09 | 58.07 | 58.09 | 1:56.16 |
| 3 | Kim Meylemans | BEL | 7 | 4.92 | 4.96 | 58.23 | 58.02 | 1:56.25 |
| 4 | Janine Flock | AUT | 1 | 5.09 | 5.11 | 58.46 | 58.08 | 1:56.54 |
| 5 | Tabitha Stoecker | GBR | 8 | 4.82 | 4.83 | 58.31 | 58.36 | 1:56.67 |
| 6 | Hallie Clarke | CAN | 14 | 5.05 | 5.01 | 58.48 | 58.34 | 1:56.82 |
| 7 | Anna Fernstädt | CZE | 13 | 5.12 | 5.15 | 58.66 | 58.24 | 1:56.90 |
| 8 | Dan Zhao | CHN | 12 | 4.96 | 4.91 | 58.71 | 58.25 | 1:56.96 |
| 9 | Alessandra Fumagalli | ITA | 26 | 4.95 | 4.95 | 58.81 | 58.33 | 1:57.14 |
| 10 | Amelia Coltman | GBR | 5 | 5.00 | 4.97 | 58.52 | 58.66 | 1:57.18 |
| 11 | Kimberley Bos | NED | 2 | 5.06 | 5.08 | 58.66 | 58.54 | 1:57.20 |
| 12 | Susanne Kreher | GER | 9 | 5.04 | 5.06 | 58.60 | 58.62 | 1:57.22 |
| 13 | Corinna Leipold | GER | 15 | 5.00 | 5.01 | 58.79 | 58.78 | 1:57.57 |
| 14 | Valentina Margaglio | ITA | 18 | 4.94 | 4.93 | 59.12 | 58.47 | 1:57.59 |
| 15 | Jane Channell | CAN | 16 | 4.99 | 4.98 | 59.01 | 58.61 | 1:57.62 |
| 16 | Nicole Silveira | BRA | 4 | 5.05 | 5.12 | 58.96 | 58.72 | 1:57.68 |
| 17 | Freya Tarbit | GBR | 10 | 4.97 | 4.98 | 58.71 | 59.01 | 1:57.72 |
| 18 | Yuxi Li | CHN | 20 | 4.96 | 4.94 | 59.17 | 58.71 | 1:57.88 |
| 19 | Nanna Johansen | DEN | 28 | 5.22 | 5.20 | 58.93 | 59.09 | 1:58.02 |
| 20 | Kelly Curtis | USA | 19 | 5.03 | 5.02 | 59.14 | 58.89 | 1:58.03 |
| 21 | Annia Unterscheider | AUT | 21 | 5.21 | 5.22 | 59.24 | 59.02 | 1:58.26 |
| 22 | Darta Neimane | LAT | 25 | 4.98 | 5.00 | 59.20 | 59.08 | 1:58.28 |
| 23 | Kendall Wesenberg | USA | 23 | 5.20 | 5.33 | 59.20 | 59.19 | 1:58.39 |
| 24 | Sara Roderick | USA | 22 | 4.94 | 5.00 | 59.29 | 59.14 | 1:58.43 |
| 25 | Julia Erlacher | AUT | 17 | 4.93 | 4.91 | 59.32 | 59.22 | 1:58.54 |
| 26 | Mystique Ro | USA | 11 | 4.92 | 59.37 | |||
| 27 | Marta Andzane | LAT | 31 | 5.11 | 59.66 | |||
| 28 | Sara Schmied | SUI | 24 | 4.97 | 59.86 | |||
| 28 | Julia Simmchen | SUI | 27 | 5.22 | 59.86 | |||
| 30 | Aline Pelckmans | BEL | 32 | 5.20 | 59.90 | |||
| 31 | Darta Zunte | EST | 29 | 5.08 | 59.91 | |||
| 32 | Kellie Delka | PUR | 30 | 5.18 | 59.93 | |||
| 33 | Katharina Eigenmann | LIE | 33 | 5.30 | 60.30 |