Britain’s Amy Williams matched her best performance of the season to finish fourth in the fifth round of the Skeleton World Cup in Altenberg, Germany today (Friday).
Williams finished just seven hundredths of a second off the podium on a day that saw a German one-two-three – with Kerstin Szymkowiak taking gold by a huge 0.71 seconds clear of silver medallist Marion Trott, and with Anja Huber taking bronze.
The fourth place achieved by Bath-based Williams matched her performance at Lake Placid in the USA last month and keeps her fifth in the overall world rankings.
She produced a terrific start on the second run – her start time of 5.75 was only bettered by those of team-mate Donna Creighton.
“It was a really good result today,” said Williams. “I made a slight mistake at the bottom of the second run, but apart from that I was really happy.”
Sheffield-based Shelley Rudman, Britain’s 2006 Olympic Winter Games silver medallist, finished joint seventh today and remains second overall in the world rankings. Ninth at the halfway mark today, her second run was almost half a second quicker than her first to climb a couple of places to seventh.
Donna Creighton produced her fifth top-20 finish of the season, although she dropped down from 12th after the first run to 16th. Once again Creighton produced two outstanding starts – her start times of 5.73 and 5.74 were the fastest two of the day. She is 14th in the world rankings at the Christmas break.
Earlier today Adam Pengilly, silver medallist at last season’s World Championships, achieved the first top-10 finish of his 2009/10 World Cup campaign.
His 10th place in Altenberg today propelled him from 39th to 25th in the overall world rankings.
Sheffield-based double Olympian Kristan Bromley finished 13th while Andy Wood’s 27th place after the first run meant he missed out on a second run today.
Germany’s Michi Halilovic took gold from Russia’s Alexander Tretiakov of Russia and another German, Frank Rommel.
Today’s results mean Great Britain have three men in the top-25 in the world rankings, with Bromley 10th, Chris Type 15th after some terrific performances in the Intercontinental Cup, with Pengilly now 25th.
The next World Cup race takes place at the Konigssee track in Germany on 8th January, with the Intercontinental Cup resuming the previous day in Lake Placid, the USA.
Altenberg World Cup results - women Gold: Kerstin Szymkowiak (GER) – 1:59.50 Silver: Marion Trott (GER) – 2:00.21 Bronze: Anja Huber (GER) – 2:00.28 4th: Amy Williams (GBR) – 2:00.35 jt 7th: Amy Gough (CAN) – 2:00.66 jt 7th : Shelley Rudman (GBR) – 2:00.66 16th: Donna Creighton (GBR) – 2:02.76
Women’s world rankings 1. Mellisa Hollingsworth (CAN) – 1011 2. Shelley Rudman (GBR) - 987 3. Kerstin Szymkowiak (GER) –954 5. Amy Williams (GBR) – 848 14. Donna Creighton (GBR) – 594 34: Sarah Sydney (GBR) - 310 47: Maggie Davies (GBR) – 230
Altenberg World Cup results – men Gold: Michi Halilovic (GER) – 1:56.39 Silver: Alexander Tretiakov (RUS) - 1:56.20 Bronze: Frank Rommel (GER) – 1.56.63 10th: Adam Pengilly (GBR) – 1:57.25 13th: Kristan Bromley (GBR) – 1:57.54 27th: Andy Wood (GBR) – 1:00.11 (one run only)
Men’s world rankings 1. Martins Dukurs (LAT) - 1044 2. Frank Rommel (GER) - 1011 3. Sandro Stielicke (GER) - 892 10. Kristan Bromley (GBR) – 744 15. Chris Type (GBR) – 540 25: Adam Pengilly (GBR) – 397 30: Andy Wood (GBR) – 368 31. Ant Sawyer (GBR) - 365 33: Dave Swift (GBR) - 352
Key dates for the remainder of the 2009/10 skeleton season 07.01:10: Men’s & women’s Intercontinental Cup 5 – Lake Placid, USA 08.01.10: Men’s & women’s World Cup 6 - Konigssee, Germany 14.01.10: Men’s & women’s Intercontinental Cup 6 – Calgary, Canada 15.01.10: Men’s & women’s World Cup 7 - St Moritz, Switzerland 15.01.10: Men’s & women’s Intercontinental Cup 7 – Calgary, Canada 22.01.10: Women’s World Cup 8 (including Euro Champs) – Igls, Austria 22.01.10: Men’s & women’s Intercontinental Cup 8 – Park City, USA 23.01.10: Men’s World Cup 8 (including Euro Champs) – Igls, Austria
