With some fast heats locked in, skeleton racer Jane Channell had the podium well in sight.
But a rocky start to her final run put the star athlete off pace.
Channell finished in sixth place at the IBSF World Championships on Friday, at the birthplace of sliding sports in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
The North Vancouver athlete – who finished 17th overall at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics – clocked the second-fastest start time in all four heats at last week’s event. Channell, 34, was hunting down her first podium on the famed Swiss chute, but expressed disappointment with her final run.
“I wanted more. I knew I had it in me,” she said in a statement. “I let a skid get to me and couldn’t relax on my sled for the rest of the run. I made every mistake possible in my fourth run.”
The two-time Olympian added that she was delighted to have her mom and dad trackside.
"I’m disappointed but it’s also my best-ever result here. A sixth-place finish, tying my best result of this tough season, is something I’m proud of,” Channell said. “I want to thank Joe Cecchini and Eric Neilson from the Snipers [Skeleton Club] for all of the help and support. It means so much and is such a confidence boost when you feel supported standing on the start line.”
After four heats, she finished with a time of 4:34.76. Meanwhile, Calgary-based teammate Mirela Rahneva clinched bronze, her first World Championships medal.
After three heats down 1,700 metres of natural ice that winds its way to a finish line in the town of Celerina, Rahneva was in fifth spot while Channell remained in third.
But Rahneva battled back in the final heat, throwing down the third-fastest run.
“That second and fourth run, I was flying. But that was really hard because I was watching Jane and I saw that her run wasn’t going as planned,” she said. “You never want to see people fall apart – especially when your teammate just fell out of the medals – but then there was this realization that I’m in the medals. There is so much for both of Jane and I to be proud of today.”
Watch out for these Canadian sledders in the upcoming BMW IBSF World Cup (Feb. 10), Europe Cup (Feb. 16) and Intercontinental Cup (Feb. 17) races.
