Canada's Clarke leads halfway into the women's skeleton world championships

WINTERBERG, Germany – Canada's Haley Clarke was the leader at the halfway point of the women's skeleton competition at the World Bobs & Skeleton Championships.

The 19-year-old from Brighton, Ont., who is representing Canada again after switching allegiances to the United States after the 2022 Olympics, clocked a time of 1 minute, 57.17 seconds on Thursday.

The final two rounds are scheduled for Friday.

“I've only run two races before here at Winterberg,” Clark said. “I had a great start and I think my pace was consistent. But the fact that I got ahead here was a complete surprise to me as well.”

Clark, a rising star in skeleton, won the U20 World Championship title in Winterberg and finished 10th in her first World Championship appearance last season while representing the United States.

She took silver at a World Cup stop in Whistler, British Columbia, in 2022.

Britain's Tabitha Stoecker was 0.03 seconds behind Clarke, while Germany's Hannah Ness, the 2022 Olympic champion, was 0.06 seconds behind the lead in third place.

Calgary's Jane Channell finished seventh with a time of 1:57.38 minutes, and Ottawa's Mirela Rahneva was ninth with a time of 1:57.43 seconds.

Dutch World Cup leader Kimberly Bosz led after the first round, but ran into problems at the start of the second round and dropped to 11th place.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 22, 2024.

Canadian Press