The Veltins Ice Arena in Winterberg hosted the fourth round of the BMW IBSF World Cup, Jacqueline Lölling of Germany took gold in front of a home crowd, packed with cheering fans lining the track, the World Champion secured the best time on both runs and pushed last year’s winner Elisabeth Vathje of Canada (0.24s behind) and Russia’s Elena Nikitina, who was racing after the provisional suspension on Russian athletes was lifted, (0.25s behind) into second and third place respectively.
After her victory Lölling stated “The support from my fans at the track can only be positive for me. I still remember how strange it felt during my first race here but now it pushes me to do my best. Winterberg is the best stop on the World Cup tour.”
Elisabeth Vathje was really p[leased with her silver medal “With the snow, the first run was really tricky . But my equipment always runs well here in Winterberg; the sled really flies!”
Russian slider Elena Nikitina was noticeably disappointed but put on a brave face to the press and stated “That was a great race. I ’m really happy”.
Great Britain had three sliders competing with the best finisher Laura Deas taking 7th place 0.82s off the leader, Olympic Champion Lizzy Yarnold was 13th 1.92s from the leader. Rookie Ashley Pittaway finished 21st.
Lizzy Yarnold was 13th after she was dealt the worst of the conditions in the opening run. Yarnold and a few of the other sliders who started in the mid-teens in the 28-strong race were hit with heavy snow and the reigning Olympic Champion was out of contention for the medals after the first run as a result.
After the fourth of eight races, in the important race for Olympic Qualification points Jacqueline Lölling (GER, 810 points) has extended her lead with her second win and remains at the top of the overall standings for the 2017/2018 BMW IBSF World Cup at the halfway point of the season.
Elisabeth Vathje (CAN, 756), the 2015 World Championship bronze medallist, has climbed from third to take second place. Tina Hermann (GER, 738), fifth in Winterberg, begins the second half of the Olympic season in third place overall.
GBR athletes in the running for Olympic Qualification in the IBSF rankings currently sit in 6th (Laura Deas) and 11th (Lizzy Yarnold).
RacerReady will be reporting the results and views from the world cup races immediately the action finishes.
©RacerReady
All pictures copyright of ©RacerReady ©MikeVarey@elite-pix
IBSF information ©RWH2017