Stoecker slides to fifth in Cortina

Tabby Stoecker came close to a second skeleton World Cup medal of the day for Great Britain as she finished fifth at the venue of February’s Olympic Winter Games on Friday.

Stoecker made the wider podium but just missed medal a few hours after Matt Weston won gold in the men’s race in Cortina.

The 24-year-old ended last season’s World Cup season in seventh spot in the rankings and she bettered that position by two places after clocking a time of 1 minute 56.67 seconds on Italian ice.

Stoecker was eight hundredths of a second from the podium after coming down fourth in Run 1 but dropped a spot to last season’s Overall World Cup winner, Janine Flock, in Run 2.

The former trapeze artist was the fastest starter in both heats in times of 4.82 and then 4.83 seconds as she finished 15 hundredths of a second clear of 2024 World champion Hallie Clarke of Canada in sixth.

Fellow Brits Amelia Coltman and Freya Tarbit were 10th and 17th respectively as Germany’s Jacquelin Pfeifer, who was on the same Olympic podium as British duo Lizzy Yarnold and Laura Deas back in 2018, took top spot in a time of 1 minute 55.93 seconds. Compatriot Hannah Neise claimed silver as she seeks to retain her Olympic crown from 2022 and Belgium’s European Champion Kim Meylemans beat Flock and Stoecker to bronze.

Coltman came down in a two-run time of 1 minute 57.18 seconds, with Tarbit totalling 1 minute 57.72 at the track that will host the biggest event of the four-year cycle in 12 weeks’ time.

There is one final instalment of skeleton action today as the team race takes place at 5pm GMT.

The team event involves a male slider and female slider joining forces over one run each, with the discipline included at the Olympic Winter Games for the very first time this season.

You can watch today’s races - and all this year’s World Cup events - live via the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation YouTube channel.