Hallie Clarke wins skeleton gold at 2024 IBSF World Championships
The 19-year-old is the youngest ever to win the event.
Canada’s Hallie Clarke became the youngest person ever to win skeleton gold at the IBSF World Championships on Friday, taking gold in the women’s event in Winterberg, Germany.
The 19-year-old finished with a combined time of 3:51.27 to top the podium, 0.22 seconds ahead of Belgium’s Kim Meylemans and 0.26 seconds quicker than Hannah Neise of Germany.
Canadians Mirela Rahneva and Jane Channell finished seventh and eleventh, respectively, while Blake Enzie finished 24th in the men’s event.
Clarke held the lead after the first two runs, something that was even a a "total surprise" to her, and after the third run was tied at the top of the standings with Neise. In her fourth run, the Canadian put down the fastest run of anyone in the competition with 56.93 seconds to win the gold medal.
"One of my goals in this sport was always to be world champion, and it came a lot sooner than I thought," Clarke said.
"It’s crazy, it still feels like a dream. It was my goal today just to have fun no matter what. I never expected to be in this position. I have been very nervous, I’m still shaking from all the adrenalin, but I tried to remind myself that I love sliding and racing.“
Last year, on the very same track, Clarke took gold at the 2023 Under-20 World Championships, competing for the United States. She won a pair of silver medals during the 2022-23 Skeleton World Cup — in Whistler, BC and Innsbruck, Austria — but didn’t reach the podium in 2023-24 until the World Championships.
Clarke was an alternate for Canada at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, but switched from representing Canada to the United States after Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton was under fire for mistreatment of its athletes. After the organization overhauled its staff, including bringing in Clarke's longtime personal coach Joe Cecchini, Clarke returned to Team Canada.
Clarke is just the fifth Canadian to win skeleton world championship gold, and the second woman — after Michelle Kelly accomplished the feat in 2003.
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