Austria’s Flock wins Olympic skeleton gold at 36 after near-misses

Janine Flock won women’s skeleton gold at the Milan-Cortina Games on Saturday, delivering four runs within six hundredths of a second of each other.ibsf
The 36-year-old Austrian had never medaled in three previous Olympics, including a heartbreaking fourth-place finish at PyeongChang 2018 after leading entering the final run.wtop
Germany swept silver and bronze, with Susanne Kreher earning her first Olympic medal and Jacqueline Pfeifer becoming the first German woman to win two skeleton medals.ibsf

Austria’s Janine Flock Wins Women’s Skeleton Gold Medal at Milan-Cortina Olympics

Austria’s Janine Flock claimed her first Olympic gold medal in women’s skeleton on Saturday, capping a 27-year career that had seen her come agonizingly close to Olympic glory without ever reaching the podium. The 36-year-old delivered four remarkably consistent runs at the Cortina Sliding Centre to finish with a combined time of 3 minutes, 49.02 seconds, beating Germany’s Susanne Kreher by 0.30 seconds.ibsf

“I can’t believe it. It doesn’t feel real right now. It’s a dream to do this,” Flock said after the race, according to the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation. “I’m totally emotional. I’m very proud, very happy and very thankful that we achieved that.”ibsf

A Historic Victory

Flock became the first Austrian woman to earn an Olympic skeleton medal of any kind and the oldest women’s skeleton Olympic champion in history. Her victory came in her fourth Olympic Games, having previously finished ninth at Sochi 2014, fourth at PyeongChang 2018, and 10th at Beijing 2022.news

The win was particularly redemptive for Flock, who had entered the final run at PyeongChang 2018 holding the lead, only to see a medal slip away on her fourth run. She finished that race in fourth place, just 0.02 seconds from the podium.wtop

This time, Flock left nothing to chance. She set a track-record time of 57.22 seconds on her opening run Friday, then posted times of 57.26, 57.26, and 57.28 seconds on her subsequent runs — all four within six hundredths of a second of each other.straitstimes

Germany Sweeps Silver and Bronze

The German team took the remaining podium spots, with 2023 World Champion Susanne Kreher earning silver in her first Olympic Games and Jacqueline Pfeifer claiming bronze. Pfeifer, who won silver at PyeongChang 2018, became the first German women’s skeleton athlete to win two Olympic medals.wikipedia

Defending champion Hannah Neise of Germany finished fourth, while Great Britain’s Tabitha Stoecker — who had been fastest in training runs — placed fifth.ibsf

“I stayed with myself the whole time. I felt incredibly comfortable from the very beginning and never doubted that I could win here,” Flock told Reuters. “I couldn’t tell what my time was. I just knew I put down four really consistent runs and hoped that it was enough.”straitstimes