From Winterberg, GER
(January 10, 2026) – Hannah Prock narrowly beat out Julia Taubitz to win her second gold medal of the 2025/2026 World Cup season.
It was a two-woman race for gold. Prock slid to the lead by a comfortable margin over Italy’s Verena Hofer in the first heat, only to see Taubitz get with .031 three sleds later. The remainder of the field filed in behind the duo, with World Cup leader Summer Britcher, Lisa Schulte, and Elina Bota all battling for bronze.
As she’d done a few times this season, Anna Berreiter had a tough first run but put down a strong second run to move up the order and into the top six from ninth, picking off Bota as the final
Eventually Berreiter was bumped out of the leader’s box by Austria’s Schulte, who held her spot one sled later as Britcher couldn’t quite match her pace.
Schulte needed help from Hofer if she wanted to make it into the medals. But Hofer had the second quickest start of the heat and put down one of her better slides of the season to slide into the lead with just Tabutiz and Prock still to go.
Taubitz pulled off the top for her second run quicker than her first, and was quicker than her first run at every timing line down the course on her way to a substantial lead over Hofer with just Prock still to go.
For the second time this season, Prock sat at the top of the track by herself as the final slider off the top. The pressure did not get to her, as she matched Taubitz curve for curve and held the German off by .087, with Hofer bronze.
The gold was the second of the season and second of her career for Prock, with both golds coming in Winterberg.
“I was a little bit nervous at the beginning of the training week,” Prock told FIL TV after the race. “But I calmed down a little bit and today I was very relaxed and it was just a lot of fun!”
Schulte took fourth, Britcher another solid finish in fifth, with Berreiter sixth.
Outside of Britcher’s run it was a tough day for the Americans. Emily Fischnaller was 18th, falling from 15th in the first heat. Emma Erickson was the first off in the first heat and finished 23rd, while Ashley Farquharson looked to have a top five run going in the first heat but crashed and did not finish.
Embyr-Lee Susko has another strong performance for Canada with a 15th place finish. Teammates Trinity Ellis and Caitlin Nash were 19th and 20th.
With her win, Hannah Prock regains the World Cup lead with four races to go. She’s only two points ahead of Julia Taubitz in second, with Summer Britcher in third, just six points back.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Hannah Prock | AUT | 12 | 5.151 | 5.149 | 56.005 | 55.880 | 1:51.885 |
| 2 | Julia Taubitz | GER | 15 | 5.151 | 5.143 | 56.036 | 55.936 | 1:51.972 |
| 3 | Verena Hofer | ITA | 16 | 5.130 | 5.100 | 56.180 | 56.070 | 1:52.250 |
| 4 | Lisa Schulte | AUT | 17 | 5.178 | 5.156 | 56.226 | 56.089 | 1:52.315 |
| 5 | Summer Britcher | USA | 19 | 5.116 | 5.100 | 56.203 | 56.324 | 1:52.527 |
| 6 | Anna Berreiter | GER | 9 | 5.189 | 5.127 | 56.453 | 56.123 | 1:52.576 |
| 7 | Elina Bota | LAT | 7 | 5.091 | 5.081 | 56.334 | 56.272 | 1:52.606 |
| 8 | Natalie Maag | SUI | 13 | 5.181 | 5.166 | 56.494 | 56.160 | 1:52.654 |
| 9 | Kendija Aparjode | LAT | 10 | 5.123 | 5.103 | 56.479 | 56.354 | 1:52.833 |
| 10 | Daria Olesik | AIN | 21 | 5.146 | 5.120 | 56.524 | 56.331 | 1:52.855 |
| 11 | Sandra Robatscher | ITA | 8 | 5.161 | 5.180 | 56.462 | 56.407 | 1:52.869 |
| 12 | Dorothea Schwarz | AUT | 18 | 5.145 | 5.147 | 56.424 | 56.451 | 1:52.875 |
| 13 | Alexandra Oberstolz | ITA | 5 | 5.160 | 5.170 | 56.445 | 56.489 | 1:52.934 |
| 14 | Melina Fischer | GER | 2 | 5.226 | 5.162 | 56.650 | 56.308 | 1:52.958 |
| 15 | Embyr-Lee Susko | CAN | 4 | 5.189 | 5.188 | 56.648 | 56.440 | 1:53.088 |
| 16 | Barbara Allmaier | AUT | 24 | 5.252 | 5.240 | 56.542 | 56.576 | 1:53.118 |
| 17 | Anka Jaenicke | GER | 6 | 5.278 | 5.249 | 56.617 | 56.583 | 1:53.200 |
| 18 | Emily Fischnaller | USA | 11 | 5.143 | 5.177 | 56.601 | 56.695 | 1:53.296 |
| 19 | Trinity Ellis | CAN | 20 | 5.153 | 5.177 | 56.757 | 56.632 | 1:53.389 |
| 20 | Caitlin Nash | CAN | 3 | 5.164 | 5.141 | 56.840 | 56.682 | 1:53.522 |
| 21 | Olena Smaha | UKR | 30 | 5.146 | 57.040 | |||
| 22 | Nina Zöggeler | ITA | 28 | 5.250 | 57.060 | |||
| 23 | Emma Erickson | USA | 1 | 5.216 | 57.145 | |||
| 24 | Zane Kaluma | LAT | 23 | 5.165 | 57.209 | |||
| 25 | Peixuan Wang | CHN | 26 | 5.132 | 57.229 | |||
| 26 | Huilan Hu | CHN | 25 | 5.182 | 57.235 | |||
| 27 | Klaudia Domaradzka | POL | 27 | 5.213 | 57.350 | |||
| 28 | Hyesun Jung | KOR | 22 | 5.253 | 57.417 | |||
| 29 | Yulianna Tunytska | UKR | 29 | 5.124 | 57.661 | |||
| DNF | Ashley Farquharson | USA | 14 | 5.155 | DNF |