From Altenberg, GER
(January 9, 2022) – Agathe Bessard made history in convincing fashion in Altenberg, as she won France’s first ever skeleton gold medal in the European Cup finale.
Bessard not only won the race but set the quickest downtime in both heats on her way to a .27 second victory over Polina Tiurina of Russia. The gold medal was the first ever for Bessard at any level of IBSF competition.
The track in Altenberg has been good to Bessard in recent seasons. Prior to her gold, she’d scored five straight top six finishes in European Cup competition including silver medals in her prior two races.
For Tiurina, the silver was her third straight podium finish after two gold medals in Sigulda.
Germany’s Sarah Wimmer rallied from 12th place in the first heat to finish third. She had a mistake in her first heat that dropped her down the leaderboard, but put together the third quickest run of the second heat to catapult up to third.
Italy’s Alessia Crippa finished fourth, while Germany’s Viktoria Hansova finished fifth. The United States’ Mystique Ro rounded out the top six, teammate Kendall Wesenberg finished one spot back in seventh.
The European Cup finale doubled as the Junior European Championships. In that race, Bessard and Tiurina won gold and silver, while Crippa took bronze.
With her bronze medal, Sarah Wimmer won the European Cup season title, 55 points ahead of the United States’ Mystique Ro. Polina Tiurina was the top junior in third.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Finish |
| 1 | Agathe Bessard | FRA | 9 | 5.93 | 5.84 | 58.95 | 58.75 | 1:57.70 |
| 2 | Polina Tiurina | RUS | 12 | 5.69 | 5.85 | 58.99 | 58.98 | 1:57.97 |
| 3 | Sarah Wimmer | GER | 4 | 5.79 | 5.79 | 60.23 | 59.25 | 1:59.48 |
| 4 | Alessia Crippa | ITA | 6 | 5.73 | 5.80 | 59.92 | 59.65 | 1:59.57 |
| 5 | Viktoria Hansova | GER | 1 | 6.00 | 5.96 | 59.81 | 59.95 | 1:59.76 |
| 6 | Mystique Ro | USA | 11 | 5.52 | 5.49 | 59.94 | 59.98 | 1:59.92 |
| 7 | Kendall Wesenberg | USA | 5 | 6.08 | 6.07 | 59.86 | 60.29 | 2:00.15 |
| 8 | Anastasiia Tsyganova | RUS | 3 | 5.90 | 5.86 | 59.46 | 60.74 | 2:00.20 |
| 9 | Hanna Staub | GER | 15 | 6.20 | 6.19 | 60.19 | 60.10 | 2:00.29 |
| 10 | Julia Erlacher | AUT | 13 | 5.56 | 5.66 | 60.60 | 59.90 | 2:00.50 |
| 11 | Ulyana Usynina | RUS | 17 | 5.94 | 5.86 | 60.08 | 60.47 | 2:00.55 |
| 12 | Darta Zunte | LAT | 8 | 5.82 | 5.75 | 60.56 | 60.02 | 2:00.58 |
| 13 | Selina Frohberger | GER | 156 | 6.11 | 6.09 | 60.07 | 60.66 | 2:00.73 |
| 14 | Aline Pelckmans | BEL | 14 | 5.95 | 5.98 | 60.74 | 60.75 | 2:01.49 |
| 15 | Annia Unterscheider | AUT | 2 | 6.09 | 6.09 | 60.22 | 61.89 | 2:02.11 |
| 16 | Anna Saulite | AUT | 7 | 6.09 | 6.16 | 60.90 | 61.46 | 2:02.36 |
| 17 | Laura Vargas | COL | 10 | 6.32 | 6.37 | 60.98 | 61.52 | 2:02.50 |
