Less than a year after returning to Canada from the United States, Harry Clarke became the first teenage athlete to win a world skeleton championship.
Clark, 19, combined the times of her four runs over the past two days in Winterberg, Germany, to beat Belgium's Kim Meilmans by 22-hundredths of a second.
“Yesterday's goal was to be in the top 10 after the first day.” Clark said., led after the first two runs on Thursday until the final two runs on Friday. “When I realized it was possible, my goals changed a little bit.”
Clark and Olympic gold medalist Hannah Neisse of Germany were tied on the final run. Nice finished with a bronze medal.
Clark was born in Belleville, Ontario, and grew up primarily in Orchard Park, New York, and Marlborough, Massachusetts in the United States, before moving to Calgary around the age of 14 due to her mother's work.
She picked up a skeleton in Canada and began skating for that country. She then transferred to the United States before the 2022-23 season.
“After spending 13 of my 18 years in the United States, I felt it was time.” Clark said in 2022..
That season, at the age of 18, Clark was a two-time World Cup runner-up.
Then, last July, Clark posted on social media“Given the immigration issues, the best decision for me was to return to Canada,” she said, adding that she was returning “for good.”
The Canadian Skeleton Federation also said Clark's lifelong personal coach Joe Cecchini was appointed national team head coach in September, which “made the decision easier for him.” .
Clark's best World Cup finish this season was seventh place.
Also, at the World Championships, the world's top-ranked slider, Dutch athlete Kimberly Bos, set the fastest time in the first run, but had problems putting her helmet on correctly before the start, so she was 21 in the second run. It was rank.
Boss finished ninth overall, one place behind the top American Mystique Law. The last time a U.S. man or woman won a skeleton medal at the world championships was in 2013 (Noel Pikus-Pace's silver medal).
The men's competition ends late Friday.
