Austrian skeleton athlete Janine Flock leads the women's skeleton competition at the 2026 Winter Olympics after two strong runs on Friday — and history is on the 36-year-old's side.

Flock opened the event as the first slider down the track, posting a time of 57.22 seconds to set a new track record. She backed it up in Run 2 to finish the first day of heats with a combined time of 1:54.48, holding a 0.04-second lead over the field.

Germany's Susanne Kreher sits second, with PyeongChang 2018 silver medalist Jacqueline Pfeifer in third. Reigning Olympic champion Hannah Neise now sits fourth, 0.24 seconds back.

Though defending world champion Kimberly Bos subsequently finds herself in a deep hole at 13th — 1.38 seconds off the pace.

The midpoint lead carries historical weight in the women's skeleton: in every previous four-run Olympic women's skeleton event, the halfway leader has finished no worse than second.

However, Flock knows that statistic doesn't guarantee a podium finish. She led through three runs at the 2018 PyeongChang Games before a rough final run dropped her to fourth — missing the podium by 0.02 seconds. She finished ninth at Sochi 2014 and 10th at Beijing 2022.

Flock is one of the most decorated skeleton athletes never to win an Olympic medal. She has three World Cup overall titles, 15 World Cup wins, and 45 career World Cup podiums.

"I just tried to do what I've been doing for 20 years now," Flock said. "Having a really good run, enjoying what I'm doing."

How to watch women's skeleton at the 2026 Winter Olympics

The final two skeleton runs are set for Saturday.

Run 3 starts at 12 PM ET, with the final medal event starting at 1:35 PM ET, live on Peacock.