Another German sliding gold, as Hannah Neise wins Olympic skeleton

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Hannah Neise has never won a World Cup medal. Or a medal at the world championships. Or a medal from the European championships.

She’s got an Olympic medal now.

And it’s the one that everybody wants.

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Skeleton has a new champion, and she was a bit of a surprise winner. Neise, the 21-year-old who won the junior world title last year, became the first German woman to capture the gold medal in Olympic skeleton by rallying in the final two heats at the Beijing Games on Saturday.

Her four-run time was 4 minutes, 7.62 seconds. Jaclyn Narracott of Australia — the midpoint leader of the event — won the silver in 4:08.24 and World Cup overall champion Kimberley Bos of the Netherlands took the bronze in 4:08.46.

Neise’s win might have been a bit of a stunner, but at this point, nothing Germany does on this track should be that surprising. After six sliding events at the Beijing Games — four in luge, two in skeleton — the Germans have captured six gold medals.

Oh, and all they have in the four remaining bobsled races — two for men, two for women — are the reigning Olympic champion drivers in Francesco Friedrich and Mariama Jamanka.

Hannah Neise, of Germany, celebrate winning the gold medal in the women's skeleton at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022, in the Yanqing district of Beijing. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

Tina Hermann of Germany was fourth and Mirela Rahneva of Canada, the first-run leader, was fifth.

Neise’s win capped a year that was unpredictable in women’s skeleton from the outset. There were eight World Cup races leading up to the Olympics, with five different winners and 11