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The Skeleton World Cup lands in Germany and the Teutonic battleship roars again. In Altenberg, as expected, the successes went to Tina Hermann and Axel Jungk who returns to the top step of the podium in a World Cup race after two years.
Friday 3 December 2021 7 minutes reading time
In the women's test that officially opened the third weekend of World Cup races, the four-time world champion proved to be decidedly unapproachable in the last stretch of the demanding German track, finding perfect lines in particular from the entrance at the kreisel to the finish line, where she was able to make a difference and overtake all the other opponents.
The 29-year-old Bavarian, despite her decidedly unconvincing thrust times, managed in both heats to establish the best chronometric references, and in particular in the second descent she was able to print an exceptional 57 "52 which is equivalent to the new record of the A victory, the twelfth of his career, which gives morale for Hermann, after a decidedly subdued start to the season. In Igls in the first two rounds of the season, the German had in fact collected only an eighth and a twelfth place.
Behind Hermann trailing by 31 cents, was placed the increasingly convincing Alina Tararynchenkova. The very young (born in 2000) Russian confirmed also in Altenberg, (the track that last year consecrated her to the general public with a splendid fourth place at her world debut), her enormous talent making the push her point of strength. The Russian thanks to two consistent heats has grabbed the place of honor getting the first podium of her career in her fifth exit in the World Cup circuit!
Third place for a comeback Janine Flock. The dominatrix of last season in fact, with an excellent final heat, managed to recover 3 positions, conquering the first podium of the season, preceding the German Neise and the Belgian Meylemans by a handful of cents.
Day to forget quickly for the leader of the general classification Elena Nikitina, today only eleventh and for the blue team. Valentina Margaglio after having played a good first descent, in the final heat unfortunately ran into a very serious mistake that led the blue to break down until she was thrown off her skeleton. Fortunately there were no physical consequences for the athlete of the Blue Flames even if the anger is great, because even today Valentina could have been one of the great protagonists. Also in difficulty Alessia Crippa who finished in 25th position, a result of a series of errors that prevented her for the third time this season from qualifying for the final descent.
In the men's field, Germany fights for the final success. With a second heat at the limit of perfection, Axel Jungk managed to outlive his team-mate Christopher Grotheer by just 11 cents, leader at the end of the first stage and above all winner of two world titles on the Altenberg track in the last two seasons. Jungk, thanks to a good exit from Kreisel, managed to reach the highest speed peaks in the final stretch, managing to overtake the leader of the World Cup by a handful of hundredths.
Third place at 45 cents from the winner, for Martins Dukurs who quickly redeems himself from the disappointing last weekend in Igls where he reached an anonymous 11th position for him. The Baltic champion preceded the two Russians Semenov and Tregubov in the standings, while the veteran Tretiakov, author of many imperfections, finished only in ninth place.
Good performance for Mattia Gaspari who at Altenberg takes the eleventh absolute position, recovering a placement compared to the first descent. The Ampezzano, standard bearer of the Fiamme Azzurre, was decidedly convincing in driving where in some portions of the track he raced on the times of the top five of the classification, demonstrating once again that on the technical tracks he is now almost at the level of the best. Fifteenth Amedeo Bagnis, good at recovering some positions during the final heat.
Race to be forgotten in a hurry for the Olympic champion Sungbin Yun who for the first time in his career was unable to overcome the cut of the best twenty, finishing in twenty-sixth position overall.
The Skeleton World Cup now moves to Winterberg, where the fourth seasonal act will be staged in 7 days, but in fifteen days it will return to Saxony where the fifth race of the calendar will be played.
#ALTENBERG #SKELETON #GASPARI #MARGAGLIO
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