Finally, it's Flock! Austrian wins the Olympic women's skeleton gold, avenging some near-misses

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy — This time, Janine Flock finished the job. And a gold medal finally sways from her neck.

Flock — the Austrian slider who came into these Milan Cortina Games winless in 16 all-time appearances at either the Olympics or the world championships — got, by far, the biggest win of her long and legendary career on Saturday night.

She's the women's skeleton Olympic champion, completing four runs in 3 minutes, 49.02 seconds and finishing off a wire-to-wire victory. The 36-year-old got her first Olympic medal in four attempts, holding off Germany's Susanne Kreher and Jacqueline Pfeifer for the win.

''I can't believe it. It doesn't feel real right now," Flock said. "It's a dream to do this.''

Flock was handed an Austrian flag shortly after hopping off the sled. She hoisted the flag into the air, then clapped her hands as the emotion began finally pouring out.

It was a win about two decades in the making. Flock is a three-time World Cup overall champion with 15 World Cup race wins, 45 World Cup medals overall, and has silver and bronze medals from the world championships.

And now, gold in the biggest race of all. Flock was fourth at the 2018 Olympics, ninth in 2014 and 10th in 2022. All that was forgotten on Saturday night.

''It was really special," Kreher said of getting to experience the medal moment with Pfeifer. "We are teammates for so many years, and now to share the podium is so special. Such a unique experience.''

Kelly Curtis of the U.S., who lives in Italy as part of her duty with the U.S. Air Force, was 12th in 3:52.13. Mystique Ro was 15th for the Americans in 3:52.48.

Flock's lead entering Saturday's final two runs was a mere 0.04 seconds over Kreher. That meant Flock went first in the third heat, setting the tone for what was about to happen.

Kreher went next and was ahead of Flock's time for about half of her third run, before starting to bleed time. Kreher led by about two-tenths of a second at one point, then wasted all that and more — finishing the heat 0.21 seconds behind Flock.

That doesn't sound like much. It is in sliding.

Her lead with one run to go in 2018: 0.02 seconds.

The lead on Saturday night with one heat left was more than 10 times bigger. That's one sizable cushion. Flock isn't a great starter, so all of her lead — and then some — going into the final run was given away at the top of the track. That wasn't a surprise.

But she is a great driver. This time, she was a great finisher, too.

She kept finding speed, regaining the top spot with just a few curves to go. The final margin was three-tenths of a second, simply because nobody in the field knew how to get down the track any better than Flock did.

''I couldn't tell what my time was," Flock said. "I just knew I put down four really consistent runs and hoped that it was enough.''