Tina Hermann from WSV Königssee has won the skeleton World Cup in Altenberg. The record-breaking world champion, who has not been nominated for the world championships starting in Winterberg in a week's time, won on Friday by a tenth of a second ahead of world champion Susanne Kreher from BSC Sachsen Oberbärenburg. American Mystique Ro came third.
As was the case recently in the luge, the track conditions deteriorated due to the high temperatures and the frost on the track, meaning that Hermann and Kreher only achieved the 14th and 16th best run times respectively in the second run. It was Hermann's second win of the season.
"I really like racing here, you can get a lot out of it in terms of driving," said Hermann, who usually lags behind at the start. Kreher was happy after her rather weak training performances: "I found something in the track that I didn't find in training," she said.
The best time in the second run was set by Anna Fernstädt, who was 22nd overall and once raced for Germany and now competes for the Czech Republic, and Italy's Alessandra Fumagalli, who finished in the same time in both runs.
The 2018 Olympic silver medallist in Pyeongchang, Jacqueline Pfeifer from RSG Hochsauerland, finished sixth. Beijing Olympic champion Hannah Neise from BSC Winterberg finished eighth. "It went much better in training. It was much warmer, I didn't think it would feel so different from riding," said Neise.
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