Bronze follows gold for Stoecker

Tabby Stoecker added World Cup Skeleton bronze to the gold she won last week as her stunning start to her top-tier career continued in Austria.

Stoecker medalled again in just her third World Cup competition in a time of 1 minute 48.11 seconds.

The 23-year-old finished 0.20 seconds behind race winner and Olympic medalist Kimberley Bos and just three hundredths of a second shy of Italy’s Valentina Margaglio in second.

Stoecker won gold on her second World Cup start in La Plagne seven days ago and was in the mix to match that when she sat just 0.04 seconds behind Bos after the first run.

She again beat a whole host of more experienced athletes, including the reigning Olympic Champion, current World Champion and last season’s Overall World Cup winner, despite having only raced once in World Cup competition prior to last week.

Stoecker’s success came just a couple of hours after Matt Weston won the Men’s Skeleton at the same track. Craig Thompson missed a medal by 0.05 seconds as he finished fourth. 

Fellow Brits Freya Tarbit and Amelia Coltman finished 21st and 22nd respectively in the women’s race in 1 minute 49.24 seconds and 1.49.25. Tarbit maintained the position she held at halfway, while Coltman slipped from 17th after Run 1.

Tabby Stoecker made the podium for the second week in a row

The World Cup Skeleton circuit now takes a break until the New Year, with the team next in action in St Moritz, Switzerland on January 12.

World Cup events follow in Lillehammer, Sigulda and Altenberg, before the season showpiece World Championships in Winterberg in late February. Lake Placid then hosts the final World Cup race of the campaign at the end of March.

There is World Cup Bobsleigh action tomorrow and Sunday, however, with GB fielding teams on both days.

Adele Nicoll goes in the Women’s Monobob at 9am GMT tomorrow after finishing 15th on her top-tier debut as a pilot earlier today and Brad Hall and Taylor Lawrence are in 2-man action at 12.30pm. Arran Gulliver and Greg Cackett then join Hall and Lawrence in the 4-man on Sunday after Nikki McSweeney and Kya Placide compete in the Women’s Bobsleigh in the morning. 

Hall and his crew are making their return from injury so their focus is on getting some ice time together rather than on matching last season’s remarkable results this weekend.