After a two-year drought, Canada’s Mirela Rahneva is back on top of a skeleton World Cup podium. The two-time Olympian from Ottawa captured gold at a competition in Sigulda, Latvia, on Friday, vaulting up the standings with a speedy second run.
Ottawa native returns to podium for 1st time since season opener in NovemberCBC Sports
· Posted: Feb 02, 2024 11:02 AM EST | Last Updated: 4 hours ago
Canada’s Mirela Rahneva, seen above in December 2023, captured gold at the women’s skeleton World Cup event on Friday in Sigulda, Latvia. (Petr David Josek/The Associated Press)After a two-year drought, Canada’s Mirela Rahneva is back on top of a skeleton World Cup podium.
The two-time Olympian from Ottawa captured gold at a competition in Sigulda, Latvia, on Friday, vaulting up the standings with a speedy second run.
Rahneva, 35, sat third after the first heat with her time of 51.75 seconds, but improved to 51.35 seconds in her second run.
That left the Canadian sitting in bronze-medal position with a total time of one minute 43.10 seconds and just two competitors left to go.
But neither silver medallist Kim Meylemans of Germany, whose second run was only eighth-fastest, or fellow German Hannah Neise, who wound up with bronze trailing Rahneva by 0.31 seconds, could catch the Canadian.
WATCH | Rahneva slides to gold medal:
Ottawa’s Mirela Rahneva slides to skeleton gold in SiguldaMirela Rahneva claimed her first gold medal of the IBSF World Cup season in Sigulda, Latvia. It’s her second time on the World Cup podium since she won bronze in the season-opener in China.
The victory marks Rahneva’s first gold medal since January 2022 in Utah. It’s also her second podium appearance of the year after taking bronze at the season opener in China. She moves to eighth in the overall World Cup standings.
Hallie Clarke of Belleville, Ont., was three-quarters of a second slower than Rahneva to place eighth, while Jane Channell of North Vancouver, B.C., finished in 17th.
Live coverage from Latvia continues on Saturday at 3 a.m. ET with the women’s monobob event on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.
