Skeleton, Women

After 20 years of her international career, the Austrian Janine Flock finally climbed to the top of the podium at World Championships or Olympic Games. Winning three runs and placing second in one, with her total of 3:49.02 she won gold ahead of German teammates Susanne Kreher and Jacqueline Pfeifer, who clocked 3:49.32 and 3:49.46, respectively. The 2022 gold medallist Hannah Neise placed fourth bringing the German team result to 2-3-4.

While Neise had been the second youngest gold medallist in the women’s skeleton, Flock now became the oldest medallist of any colour in this event at 36 years 204 days. While she claimed her two medals in the singles back in 2014 and 2020, she won the overall World Cup for a third time in the 2024/25 season which showed that she was still an athlete to watch.

Silver medallist “Susi” Kreher, the surprise 2023 World Champion, had never topped the podium in the World Cup in this event and was a rookie at the Olympics. Jacqueline Pfeifer, on the other hand, was already a three-time Olympian and silver medallist at PyeongChang in 2018. She even won gold at the 2012 Youth Winter Olympics and was previously the most successful of the three medallists.

Great Britain, the only country to have won more than one gold medal in the women’s singles, still had three athletes in the top 10, but missed a medal for the second time in a row. For Austria, it was the first ever medal in this event. Germany equalled Great Britain’s total of six medals. The three medallists of the 2025 World Championships placed only a disappointing tenth, 13th and 15th.