The images:
Van Petegem finishes 19th in Sankt Moritz
Kelly Van Petegem finished in nineteenth place during the Monobob World Cup in Sankt Moritz. The 26-year-old from East Flanders recorded a combined time of 2:25.80.
Van Petegem clocked a time of 1:13.01 in her first run, good for nineteenth place. The top 20 qualified for the second run, where our compatriot again finished nineteenth in 1:12.79. In the final standings she finished well behind the Australian winner Bree Walker (2:23.27). She defeated the Swiss Melanie Hasler (2:23.80) and the Austrian Katrin Beierl (2:23.95).
German World Cup leader Laura Nolte only finished sixth in 2:24.12. She only missed the podium for the first time this season. Nolte remains well ahead in the standings. Van Petegem follows in 22nd. She has only competed in two of the previous five World Cup events.
Kelly Van Petegem © IMAGO/Roman Koksarov
The heat in Sankt Moritz on Saturday also served as the European Bobsleigh Championships. The first European in the final results, the Swiss Hasler, was crowned European champion, ahead of Beierl and Nolte. Van Petegem finished thirteenth in the results.
The Belgian bobsledders are trying to collect as many points as possible to improve their IBSF ranking before the end of the Olympic qualifying period on January 18 at 11:59 PM. For women, 25 tickets for the Winter Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo will be awarded, both in the monobob and in the two-man bob, with a maximum of three teams per country per event. Only the points earned by the pilot (Kelly Van Petegem for Belgium) count towards the individual or team qualification.
Van Petegem is currently 29th in the monobob rankings and 31st in the two-man bobsled. In monobob she is virtually qualified by the presence of five Germans and five Canadians in front of her.
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