Mirela Rahneva wins skeleton gold at World Cup in Park City
Mirela Rahneva won gold in the women’s skeleton event at the IBSF World Cup in Park City, Utah.
Rahneva finished with a cumulative time of 1:38.42 leading silver medallist Tina Hermann of Germany by 0.10 seconds. Trailing the Canadian by 0.13 seconds, Britain’s Laura Deas finished third.
The first run was very fast as five competitors took turns lowering the track record. Rahneva was the last to claim the record taking the lead with a time of 49.12 seconds, 0.09 seconds ahead of Hermann.
On her second run, the 34-year-old Canadian was a bit slower, finishing with a time of 49.30 seconds, but it was enough to maintain first place in the overall standings. None of her competitors managed to lower their records during the second run.
This is a first World Cup gold medal since February 2019 and a fourth career victory in this event for the fifth-place finisher at Beijing 2022
Active on the World Cup circuit since the 2016-2017 season, the 34-year-old athlete had never reached the podium during the Park City stage until today.
The IBSF World Cup will continue until Saturday. The women’s monobob and men’s two-man events will take place on Friday, while the women’s two-man and men’s four-man will take place on Saturday.
