With the world on its way to Whistler for a World Cup skeleton race, North Vancouver’s Jane Channell has shown that she will be blasting face first down her home track with an eye on grabbing gold at the bottom.
On Saturday Channell slid to her second ever World Cup medal, scoring silver in Park City, Utah.
Channell parlayed explosive starts in both of her runs into a second-place showing behind Germany’s Tina Hermann. It was Channell’s second ever World Cup medal in her second season on the circuit – she took home a World Cup bronze medal in Winterberg, Germany in early December.
“Winning the silver feels amazing,” Channell said in a Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton release. “It’s reassuring that I’m taking steps in the right direction having slid two relatively consistent runs.
Park City is a short, pushers track so being able to have a strong push gives me the upper hand and a bit of a buffer in case things don’t go as planned down the track. It is a confidence booster knowing that out of the gates I’m the one being chased.”
Channell, a former sprinter with Simon Fraser University, blasted out of the blocks in Park City to record the fastest two starts of the day. The Handsworth grad was in second place following the first round after posting a time of 50.34. With racers going in order of slowest to fastest in the second round, Channell was in the unfamiliar position of being one of the last ones left in the start gate.
“I’ve never been second last off at the World Cup level,” she said. “The men were in the start house so I wasn’t alone up there. My teammates and the other sliders were great. Their small distractions helped me to stay relaxed before my second run.”
Channell finished with a total time of 1:41.49, trailing only Hermann who posted a time of 1:41.08. Austria’s Janine Flock finished third with a time of 1:41.58. Hermann, first overall in the World Cup standings, also finished first the last time Channell was on the podium in Winterberg.
The silver-medal showing bumped Channell up from fourth to third overall in the World Cup standings heading into the first World Cup race to be held on the Olympic track since 2012.
Channell will be one of Team Canada’s top medal hopes in the lone stop on home soil this season as the Whistler Sliding Centre will host the world’s best Jan. 22-23. Tickets are available for $10 at whistlerslidingcentre.com, or at Guest Services. Children under 12 are free.
