Kanakina Edges Graybill for NAC Gold

From Whistler, CAN

(Nov. 7, 2018) – Yulia Kanakina won the first North American Cup race of the women’s skeleton season, edging American Savannah Graybill in the process.

Kanakina carried a .23 advantage over Graybill coming into the second heat. Graybill put the pressure on the Russian on that second run, setting the fast run in the competition. Kanakina couldn’t match Graybill’s pace, but was quick enough to hold the American off by .09 to take gold.

Lanette Prediger, the 2017/2018 Intercontinental Cup champion, finished with a bronze medal, edging out teammate Jaclyn LaBerge by .01 for the position.

American Kendall Wesenberg and Canadian Madi Charney rounded out the top six.

Kelly Curtis and Kristen Hurley finished out the American effort in eighth and 14th, respectively, while Janelle Khan-Nielsen finished 17th to round out the Canadian effort.

Australian Olympian Jackie Narracott finished 7th, while Leslie Stratton finished 9th in her first start for Sweden. Katie Tannenbaum finished 16th for the US Virgin Islands, while Nicole Silveira finished 18th in her first international skeleton race.

Results:

Pos Name Nation Start 1 Start 2 Run 1 Run 2 Total
1 Yulia Kanakina RUS 4.87 4.85 54.34 54.09 1:48.43
2 Savannah Graybill USA 5.12 5.08 54.57 53.95 1:48.52
3 Lanette Prediger CAN 5.28 5.16 54.83 54.54 1:48.37
4 Jaclyn LaBerge CAN 5.17 5.15 54.84 54.54 1:48.38
5 Kendall Wesenberg USA 5.10 5.04 54.50 54.66 1:49.61
6 Madison Charney CAN 4.97 4.97 54.89 54.77 1:49.66
7 Jaclyn Narracott AUS 5.02 4.94 55.13 54.91 1:50.04
8 Kelly Curtis USA 5.07 5.06 55.11 55.01 1:50.12
9 Leslie Stratton SWE 5.11 5.06 55.67 55.16 1:50.83
10 Sophia Jeong KOR 5.02 4.97 56.00 55.10 1:51.10
11 Chengfeng Long CHN 4.97 4.94 56.06 55.81 1:51.87
12 Danxia Yang CHN 4.92 4.91 55.71 56.71 1:52.42
13 Jinghua Qi CHN 5.12 5.10 56.25 56.20 1:52.45
14 Kristen Hurley USA 5.06 5.00 57.01 56.36 1:53.37
15 Luiyang Lin CHN 5.00 4.96 55.53 58.05 1:53.58
16 Katie Tannenbaum ISV 5.27 5.23 56.57 57.21 1:53.78
17 Janelle Khan-Nielsen CAN 5.02 5.02 57.94 57.21 1:55.15
18 Nicole Silveira BRA 5.21 5.25 58.53 58.54 1:57.07
19 Audra Segree JAM 5.25 5.20 59.72 59.68 1:59.40
20 Kellie Delka PUR 5.13 5.16 63.42 56.54 1:59.96