Skeleton Gold for Germany, Russia and Great Britain at the IBSF European Cup & IBSF Intercontinental Cup in the Altenberg ice canal
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Altenberg. This week the Skeletonis at the SachsenEnergie-Eiskanal in Altenberg were guests. For the races in the European Cup on Wednesday, January 13th, 21 women and 31 men from a total of 20 nations were registered. At the Intercontinental Cup (ICC) on Saturday, January 16, 15 women and 22 men from a total of 17 nations competed. The races were top-class, as some World Cup starters of the current season are using the competitions in Altenberg to gain competition experience on the track, where the BMW IBSF Bob & Skeleton World Championships 2021 presented by IDEAL Versicherung will be held in a few weeks.
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With almost three tenths of a second ahead of silver, Corinna Leipold (BRC Thuringia) won the women’s European Cup from the perspective squad of the German national skeleton team. She relegated her teammate Stefanie Votz (RC Berchtesgaden) and Kimberley Bos from the Netherlands, who is currently second in the overall World Cup standings, to places two and three. The men’s European Cup competition was decided by Briton Matt Weston, who usually competes in the World Cup, with a lead of more than two tenths of a second. Lukas Nydegger (RC Berchtesgaden) from the German junior squad won silver, while Brit Jerry Rice won bronze.
In the women’s race as part of the Intercontinental Cup in Altenberg, the overall World Cup third last season, Elena Nikitina from Russia, left the competition well behind. With a gap of 57 hundredths of a second, Sophia Griebel (BRC Thuringia) came in second, the Russian Yulia Kanakina in third. Susanne Kreher from Bärenstein (BSC Sachsen Oberbärenburg) took fourth place on her home track, Corinna Leipold (BRC Thuringia) came in sixth. Local hero Axel Jungk from Hohndorf (BSC Sachsen Oberbärenburg) was able to convince the men on his home track. With a lead of almost half a second, the 2020 vice world champion won ICC gold after two races on the 2021 World Cup track – ahead of last season’s overall World Cup runner-up Alexander Tretiakov from Russia and Felix Seibel (BRC Hallenberg) from the German perspective squad.
Kilian von Schleinitz (WSV Königssee) completed the very good result of the German national skeleton team with fourth place. Like all competitions of the current season, the IBSF European Cup Skeleton and the IBSF Intercontinental Cup Skeleton presented by VEF took place under strict hygiene requirements. This also included the fact that no spectators were allowed on the SachsenEnergie ice canal. Fans of skating could still follow the training runs and races in full and in real time via live stream.
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