Canada's Elisabeth Vathje slides to silver at skeleton World Cup season opener
Austria's Janine Flock takes gold with track record, trio of Canadians crack top 10
Elisabeth Vathje came away with silver as three Canadians cracked the top 10 at the skeleton World Cup season opener in Lake Placid, N.Y. on Thursday.
She finished second behind Austria's Janine Flock with a two-run time of one minute 50.39 seconds. Flock (1:50.13), who broke her own Mount Van Hoevenberg track record, won gold for the second straight season in Lake Placid while reigning Olympic champion Lizzy Yarnold of Britain was third in 1:50.46.
Vathje, from Calgary, got off the ice and leaped into her mother's arms in celebration. Vathje hasn't yet qualified for the Pyeongchang Games, but the result obviously was a major boost in that effort.
- WATCH | World Cup bobsleigh & skeleton
- The hot seat: Everyone wants to ride with Kaillie Humphries
- Jane Channell turns heartbreaking loss into Olympic inspiration
"She's going to be at all the races this year," Vathje said of her mother, Rita. "She gets accreditation so she can be part of the action and she's a massive part to my success. She just keeps me chill and helps me be such a head case. So I'm really thankful for her, and thankful she can catch me."
Flock, who has also claimed a silver and a bronze in previous stops at this event, always seems right at home in Lake Placid.
"It's a hard and a tough track," Flock said. "I like to be more focused and more concentrated, because it's very hard. It's very rough, it's bumpy, it's not good for your head. But it's a special, nice track with nice, round, cool rhythm. Yes, I love Placid."
That was evident less than a minute into her season.
Flock's first run was 54.69 seconds, taking 0.15 seconds off the track mark that she set last month — and was a time that ended up more than three-tenths of a second better than any other slider's best on Thursday.
She was significantly slower in the second run, yet still prevailed by 0.26 seconds.
Canada's Channell, Rahneva crack top 10
"It's awesome. It's the best thing that can happen for me," Flock said. "It's the best thing when you start the season with a good result."
Great Britain's Lizzy Yarnold jumped up from fifth to third at 0.33 off the pace, edging out Russia's Elena Nikitina for bronze.
Despite clipping the wall during her second run, Canada's Jane Channell vaulted up from 13th to sixth and teammate Mirela Rahneva finished seventh to round out the Canadian contingent.
Reigning World Cup overall champion Jacqueline Lolling of Germany was eighth.
Action continues Friday at 8:30 a.m. ET in men's skeleton.
With files from The Associated Press