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With a time of one minute 1.35 seconds in heat two at the IBSF World Cup race in La Plagne, France, on Friday Russia's Elena Nikitina, the winner of the women's skeleton race, was almost 1.5 seconds faster than the old record set by the Britain's Alex Coomber in December 2000.
Coomber won the Olympic bronze medal in 2002 and was also the overall World Cup winner from 2000 to 2002. Measuring over 1,700 meters in length and with winning times of one minute and above in the women's skeleton, La Plagne is one of the world's longest artificial sliding tracks.
In what was her eighth World Cup victory, the defending title holder Nikitina secured a 0.65-second lead over the European champion Janine Flock of Austria. World Championship silver medallist Jacqueline Lolling of Germany was 0.86 seconds back in third.
Nikitina also managed to improve on La Plagne's starting record, which was set by Marina Gilardoni of Switzerland over seven years ago in December 2012. Nikitina shaved over 0.3 seconds off the time so that it now stands at exactly 6.00 seconds.
Local hero Agathe Bessard of France, who finished third at the 2016 Youth Olympic Games, finished in 16th on her World Cup debut.
In the overall standings for the 2019/2020 IBSF World Cup, Lolling holds a narrow lead at the mid-way point in the season. The 2018 Olympic silver medallist currently has 827 points, which puts her ahead of Flock, with 820 points. Nikitina is third overall with 794.
(CGTN)
