PARK CITY, Utah -- Canada's Jane Channell has her first career skeleton World Cup silver medal.
The 27-year-old from North Vancouver, B.C., clocked the first and second-fastest start times while blasting down the 13-corner track in a combined time of one minute 41.49 on Saturday afternoon. Germany's Tina Hermann took gold in 1:41.08 while Austria's Janine Flock was third in 1:41.58.
"Winning the silver feels amazing," Channell said. "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."
It was the second medal of Channell's season and World Cup career. She reached the podium for the first time earlier this year with a bronze in Winterberg, Germany.
Calgary's Elisabeth Vathje also had her best performance of the season. Sitting in ninth spot after the first heat, Vathje posted the fourth-fastest second heat to climb into sixth place overall at 1:42.01.
On the men's side, Barrett Martineau had his best career finish on the skeleton World Cup circuit, finishing eighth with a two-run time of 1:39.77.
"This result feels great," said Martineau. "My best World Cup to date and that is something to smile about."
Latvia's Martins Dukurs continued his dominance of the men's World Cup, winning with a time of 1:38.35. Korea's Sungbin Yun slid to the silver medal with a time of 1:38.73, while Germany's Axel Jungk locked up the bronze in 1:39.05.
Dave Greszczyszyn of Brampton, Ont., placed 12th with a time of 1:40.29.
