Stratton Wins First Career NAC Gold

From Park City, USA

(Nov. 19, 2018) – Leslie Stratton won her first international gold medal in skeleton, fending off a strong contingent of Americans to win gold.

Stratton, representing Sweden for just her third event, came into the second heat in Park City two tenths off the pace set by American Kelly Curtis. In the second run Stratton once again had the second fastest downtime, this time behind American Sara Roderick, but her combined time was enough to fend off Curtis by .03 and take gold.

Curtis finished in second to claim her third medal in five races (one gold, two silver), while Roderick finished third in her first international competition.

The gold for Stratton was her first medal in IBSF competition.

Rounding out the top six were Michelle Toukan, Katie Tannenbaum, and Mystique Ro.

Janelle Khan-Nielsen finished seventh as the only Canadian slider to finish. Grace Dafoe withdrew from the second heat due to injury.

Results:

Pos Name Nation Start 1 Start 2 Run 1 Run 2 Total
1 Leslie Stratton SWE 5.17 5.12 50.74 50.93 1:41.67
2 Kelly Curtis USA 5.15 5.17 50.54 51.16 1:41.70
3 Sara Roderick USA 4.96 4.96 50.99 50.90 1:41.89
4 Michelle Toukan USA 5.17 5.09 51.20 51.38 1:42.58
5 Katie Tannenbaum ISV 5.33 5.29 51.57 51.71 1:43.28
6 Mystique Ro USA 5.00 5.07 51.88 52.34 1:44.22
7 Janelle Khan-Nielsen CAN 5.09 5.07 52.83 52.92 1:45.75
8 Nichole Silveira BRA 5.31 5.26 53.12 53.65 1:46.77
9 Audra Segree JAM 5.18 5.29 52.84 54.01 1:46.85
DNS Grace Dafoe CAN 5.31 52.24 DNS