From St. Moritz, SUI
(January 9, 2026) – For a very long track, the racing in St. Moritz traditionally is a little tight, with positions gained and lost within a few hundredths of a second.
But for the second time in two races this week, gold was decided by well over a full second with Kim Meylemans winning by 1.11 over American Kelly Curtis.
Meylemans had a lead of .4 over Austria’s Julia Erlacher after the first run. Behind Erlacher the racing was far more tight, with Jacqueline Pfefier, Kendall Wesenberrg and Tabitha Steocker all in the hunt for at least a silver medal. But The racing was so tight behind Meylemans that someone from well out of first heat medal contendership made an appearance looking for hardware of her own.
American Kelly Curtis came into the second heat in ninth place, .26 behind Erlacher. Her second run was outstanding, the quickest of the race to that point and enough to take the lead from Susanne Kreher by .38.
From there slider after slider tried and and failed to match Curtis’s two-run time. Nicole Silveira put down a big second effort of her own but fell behind Curtis by .06. Mystique Ro, Hallie Clarke, Wesenberg and Stoecker all fell well behind with just three to go.
Pfeifer was next, and while the German nearly always can find time at the bottom of a run, the speed was not there as she fell behind Curtis, Silveira, and Stoecker with two to go.
Erlacher has won her share of medals on the Europe Cup tour, but racing in the World Cup is just different. She’d entered the heat in second place but with man experienced athletes behind her. Her second run was a bumpy one, 21st of 25 sleds, and she plummeted down the order to what would eventually be 15th place with just Meylemans to go.
After Curtis’s run nobody else came close to finding the speed of the American, so it felt like there could be a chance for Meylemans to come back to Curtis and perhaps give up gold. But that didn’t happen. The speed was still there in the track, and Meylemans threw down another outstanding slide, .9 quicker than her first to set the quick one-heat downtime and win by a combined 1.11 over Curtis.
The win was the third in four races for Meylemans. For Curtis, her silver medal was a career-best and the second medal of her career (bronze in Lake Placid 2022 the other).
Silvera, the wife and teammate of Meylemans, won bronze for the third time in the last two seasons.
Stoecker had the fourth quickest run in both heats to finish fourth, with Pfeifer fifth and 2023 world champion Susanne Kreher sixth from tenth in the first heat.
Mystique Ro came into the second heat in seventh, but a bumpy second run dropped her to 11th. Like Ro, Wesenberg had a tough second run and fell from a tie for fourth to 17th. Sara Roderick was 22nd to round out the American effort.
Canada’s Hallie Clarke was sixth after the first heat but couldn’t quite find her rhythm in the second heat and fell one spot to seventh, with teammate Jane Channell 19th.
Freya Tarbit was 12th, up from 18th in the first heat and two spots behind British teammate Amelia Coltman, who slid from 16th to tenth.
The race doubled as the European Championships, with Meylemans winning gold there as well. Tabitha Stoecker and Jacqueline Pfeifer were silver and bronze in that competition.
With her win, Meylemans takes over the World Cup lead with one race to go in the season. Pfeifer is second, with Flock third after a disappointing second heat in St. Moritz. Stoecker and Anna Fernstädt round out the top five.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Kim Meylemans | BEL | 7 | 5.24 | 5.21 | 70.78 | 70.23 | 2:21.01 |
| 2 | Kelly Curtis | USA | 12 | 5.29 | 5.30 | 71.44 | 70.68 | 2:22.12 |
| 3 | Nicole Silveira | BRA | 13 | 5.34 | 5.39 | 71.38 | 70.80 | 2:22.18 |
| 4 | Tabitha Stoecker | GBR | 3 | 5.24 | 5.23 | 71.31 | 70.92 | 2:22.23 |
| 5 | Jacqueline Pfeifer | GER | 4 | 5.41 | 5.45 | 71.22 | 71.03 | 2:22.25 |
| 6 | Susanne Kreher | GER | 6 | 5.41 | 5.40 | 71.51 | 70.99 | 2:22.50 |
| 7 | Hallie Clarke | CAN | 17 | 5.29 | 5.30 | 71.33 | 71.19 | 2:22.52 |
| 8 | Dan Zhao | CHN | 20 | 5.34 | 5.27 | 71.66 | 70.92 | 2:22.58 |
| 9 | Kimberley Bos | NED | 1 | 5.35 | 5.34 | 71.69 | 71.01 | 2:22.70 |
| 10 | Amelia Coltman | GBR | 10 | 5.32 | 5.35 | 71.70 | 71.06 | 2:22.76 |
| 11 | Mystique Ro | USA | 15 | 5.20 | 5.21 | 71.35 | 71.42 | 2:22.77 |
| 12 | Freya Tarbit | GBR | 8 | 5.37 | 5.32 | 71.92 | 71.02 | 2:22.94 |
| 13 | Corinna Leipold | GER | 14 | 5.30 | 5.33 | 71.69 | 71.30 | 2:22.99 |
| 13 | Alessandra Fumagalli | ITA | 19 | 5.35 | 5.35 | 71.57 | 71.42 | 2:22.99 |
| 15 | Julia Erlacher | AUT | 22 | 5.18 | 5.22 | 71.18 | 71.90 | 2:23.08 |
| 16 | Yuxi Li | CHN | 18 | 5.36 | 5.28 | 71.81 | 71.40 | 2:23.21 |
| 17 | Kendall Wesenberg | USA | 21 | 5.51 | 5.49 | 71.31 | 71.94 | 2:23.25 |
| 18 | Anna Fernstädt | CZE | 2 | 5.47 | 5.45 | 72.01 | 71.27 | 2:23.28 |
| 19 | Jane Channell | CAN | 16 | 5.22 | 5.21 | 71.60 | 71.74 | 2:23.34 |
| 20 | Janine Flock | AUT | 5 | 5.45 | 5.49 | 72.17 | 71.20 | 2:23.37 |
| 21 | Hannah Neise | GER | 9 | 5.43 | 5.44 | 71.96 | 71.42 | 2:23.38 |
| 22 | Sara Roderick | USA | 24 | 5.25 | 5.31 | 71.94 | 71.84 | 2:23.78 |
| 23 | Sara Schmied | SUI | 11 | 5.28 | 5.27 | 72.67 | 72.24 | 2:24.91 |
| 24 | Annia Unterscheider | AUT | 23 | 5.57 | 5.67 | 73.20 | 72.61 | 2:25.81 |
| 25 | Mariia Ivchuk | UKR | 25 | 5.69 | 5.76 | 74.03 | 74.32 | 2:28.35 |