Hallie Clarke became the first teenager to win a world championship in skeleton, doing so less than a year after switching from the U.S. back to Canada.

Clarke, 19, prevailed by 22 hundredths of a second over Belgian Kim Meylemans combining times from four runs over the last two days in Winterberg, Germany.

“My goal for yesterday was to try and be in the top 10 after the first day,” said Clarke, who led after Thursday’s first two runs going into Friday’s final two runs. “Then goals changed a little bit when I knew it was possible.”

Clarke and Olympic gold medalist Hannah Neise of Germany were tied going into the last run. Neise ended up with bronze.

Clarke was born in Belleville, Ontario, primarily grew up in the U.S. in Orchard Park, New York, and Marlborough, Massachusetts, then moved to Calgary around age 14 due to her mom’s job.

She picked up skeleton in Canada and began sliding for that nation. She then switched to the U.S. before the 2022-23 season.

“I spent 13 of my 18 years there (in the U.S.), so I just felt like it was time,” Clarke said in 2022.

That season, Clarke had a pair of runner-up finishes on the World Cup at age 18.

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