From Winterberg, Germany
Winterberg is known for it’s tight races, and the final race of the 2015 season is living up to that expectation, with an absolute dogfight for the top spot.
World Cup two-man and four-man champion Oskars Melbardis brought sled down to a track record pace in Run 1, taking the Run 1 lead by .03 over Max Arndt and Nico Walther. Run 2, though, would see Franceso Friedrich make his move, breaking the track record set by Melbardis on his way to a third place finish, behind Melbardis and Arndt. Walther fell back to fourth, while British pilot Lamin Deen continued a fantastic World Championships for him, moving up to fifth after a fourth-fastest run in the heat.
Steven Holcomb will go into the second day of sliding in ninth place after a very tidy second run. teammates Nick Cunningham and Codie Bascue will enter the second day in 16 and tied for 19th, respectively.
Chris Spring had a slightly disappointing second run, but managed to keep in the top ten in eighth, while teammate Justin Kripps also kept in the top ten in tenth place. The third Canadian sled, piloted by Kaillie Humphries, finished 28th after a flip late in her second run.
Results:
Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
1 | Melbardis/Dreiskens/Vilkaste/Strenga | LAT | 3 | 53.80 | 53.73 | 1:47.53 |
2 | Arndt/Rödiger/Korona/Hebe | GER | 1 | 53.83 | 53.78 | 1:47.61 |
3 | Friedrich/Bauer/Grothkopp/Margis | GER | 4 | 53.98 | 53.69 | 1:47.67 |
4 | Walther/Bredau/Hübenbecker/Poser | GER | 5 | 53.83 | 53.86 | 1:47.69 |
5 | Deen/Simons/Tasker/Matthews | GBR | 16 | 54.10 | 53.81 | 1:47.91 |
6 | Peter/van der Zijde/Amrhein/Friedli | SUI | 6 | 54.01 | 53.96 | 1:47.97 |
7 | Kasjanov/Negodaylo/Huzin/Pushkarev | RUS | 2 | 54.03 | 54.03 | 1:48.06 |
8 | Spring/Plug/Kopacz/Brown | CAN | 10 | 54.06 | 54.10 | 1:48.16 |
9 | Holcomb/Olsen/Valdes/Michener | USA | 11 | 54.20 | 54.09 | 1:48.29 |
10 | Kripps/Randall/Barnett/Coackwell | CAN | 8 | 54.14 | 54.38 | 1:48.52 |
11 | Zakharov/Neustroev/Antukh/Kondratenko | RUS | 9 | 54.30 | 54.26 | 1:48.56 |
12 | Vrba/Suchy/Dvorak/Nosek | CZE | 17 | 54.32 | 54.26 | 1:48.58 |
13 | Kibermanis/Lusis/Zirups/Leiboms | LAT | 7 | 54.34 | 54.28 | 1:48.62 |
14 | Stulnev/Mokrousov/Selikhov/Soldatenkov | RUS | 14 | 54.28 | 54.39 | 1:48.67 |
15 | Hafer/Salzer/Rademacher/Trenkler | GER | 21 | 54.46 | 54.30 | 1:48.76 |
16 | Cunningham/Clark/Harrison/Reed | USA | 12 | 54.35 | 54.41 | 1:48.76 |
17 | Maier/Laussegger/Sammer/Rangl | AUT | 13 | 54.37 | 54.55 | 1:48.92 |
18 | Bertazzo/Fontana/Ughi/Costa | ITA | 15 | 54.56 | 54.43 | 1:48.99 |
19 | Bascue/Wickline/Cremin/Adams | USA | 18 | 54.60 | 54.50 | 1:49.10 |
19 | Won/Jun/Seo/Kim | KOR | 22 | 54.77 | 54.33 | 1:49.10 |
21 | Matousek/Sindelar/Stoklaska | CZE | 26 | 54.61 | 54.51 | 1:49.12 |
22 | Costerg/Heinrich/Ricard/Boutherin | FRA | 19 | 54.72 | 54.45 | 1:49.17 |
23 | Radjenovic/Djuric/Krajisnik/Bundalo | SRB | 24 | 54.96 | 54.84 | 1:49.80 |
24 | Grigore/Craciun/Salajan/Moldovan | ROU | 23 | 55.06 | 54.83 | 1:49.89 |
25 | Gschnitzer/Grande/Caurso/Variola | ITA | 25 | 55.09 | 54.89 | 1:49.98 |
26 | Wesselink/Balvers/Mensink/Brink | NED | 28 | 55.22 | 55.26 | 1:50.48 |
27 | Luty/Tylkowski/Wieczorek/Kossakowski | POL | 27 | 55.28 | 55.38 | 1:50.66 |
28 | Humphries/Dale/Nemet/Kirkpatrick | CAN | 20 | 55.01 | 55.90 | 1:50.91 |