From St. Moritz, SUI
(January 27, 2023) – Even though there wasn’t much question as to who would win the men’s skeleton IBSF World Championships in St. Moritz, the third and fourth runs of the event still proved to be exciting.
First, the winner: Matt Weston completely dominated the competition in St. Moritz. The British slider had the fastest heat in fall four races on his way to victory.
After opening up over a full second lead on the field after the first two heats, Weston came into the second day of competition looking to seal the victory. On his third run Weston was once again quicker than everyone else as he was .48 quicker than Italy’s Amdedo Bagnis, who was sitting in second place coming into the heat.
On the four run Weston once again set the pace for the field. His final run was his second under 1:07, and easily enough to take gold in his third World Championships.
Afterward, Weston finally took it all in.
“I didn’t let myself believe that I’d won until I’d crossed the line on that fourth run,” Weston said. “I still kept with my processes and routines and what I had to do to get ready to race. It’s sort of hitting me now and I’m feeling a bit emotional afterwards. But what a way to right some wrongs from last year! First world champs in a place like this, you couldn’t write it any better!”
Bagnis took silver, .67 ahead of South Korea’s Seunggi Jung, who had edged out Great Britain’s Craig Thompson for the final medal position by just .01.
Like many on tour, Bagnis was surprised by just how well he slid over the four heats.
“This was a big surprise for me! Because training this week was good, but nothing like this. This is my best result, and my best result in World Championships. There really are no words.”
Bagnis was also thrilled about getting his first medal in the birthplace of the sport.
“This track is fantastic for me , especially now! This is always my preferred track because it’s different than the others. It’s just snow, and it’s nice and smooth, not bumpy, and the speed is unbelievable.”
Seunggi Jung took bronze, continuing a tradition of South Korean World Championships success that began with 2018 Olympic medalist Sungbin Jung’s 2016 silver medal.
Great Britain effectively put together 12 quality runs over the course of the event. Craig Thompson finished fourth, just out of the medals by .01, while Marcus Wyatt finished fifth. All three British men were in the top six of every heat of competition.
Wengang Yan of China took sixth as he edged Italy’s Mattia Gaspari for the spot. Still, it was a strong showing by the Italians. Afterward Gaspari, who has continued to improve since a pair of Achilles injuries, talked about his race.
“I felt good, we skipped the North American part of the World Cup because we have new coaches, new things, and a new set up. And it paid off with a good results. I can’t compete with these guys with their push, but coming after two Achilles injuries it’s what I really can do. I changed my sprint coach of eight years, so step by step I’m getting there.”
The United States put one slider in the top 20, with Austin Florian in 19th place. Andrew Blaser had a disappointing third run that knocked him out of the top 20 and into 25th, while teammate Daniel Barefoot finished in 26th.
Florian, who was coming off a top five World Cup finish in Altenberg, felt as though he’d slid pretty well for the most part.
“I had some good sliding overall and very few mistakes,” Florian said about his race. “But when I made them they were in pretty key areas, like Horseshoe. I just didn’t really have the equipment really dialed in this week, and it just wasn’t our week. I had a good season so far, so I know it’s there, I just have to have to find it again.”
Florian had a small crowd of supporters waiting for him at the finish, something seen usually across the North American tour stops.
“It’s pretty cool having them here. It’s fun, most of our team have some people here and it’s good to see some people from home here.” When asked about the size of the Team Florian crowd, Florian smiled. “We do alright! Not quite the crowd we had in Lake Placid [roughly 40 people], but we do alright!”
Neither of Canada’s men finished within the top 20, as Blake Enzie finished 23rd, while Evan Neufeldt finished 27th.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Run 1 | Run 2 | Run 3 | Run 4 | Total |
| 1 | Matt Weston | GBR | 8 | 67.08 | 66.88 | 67.81 | 66.94 | 4:28.71 |
| 2 | Amadeo Bagnis | ITA | 20 | 67.55 | 67.54 | 68.29 | 67.12 | 4:30.50 |
| 3 | Seunggi Jung | KOR | 6 | 67.88 | 67.39 | 68.31 | 67.59 | 4:31.17 |
| 4 | Craig Thompson | GBR | 14 | 67.91 | 67.43 | 68.18 | 67.66 | 4:31.18 |
| 5 | Marcus Wyatt | GBR | 9 | 67.77 | 67.49 | 68.48 | 67.64 | 4:31.38 |
| 6 | Wengang Yan | CHN | 1 | 68.00 | 67.66 | 68.49 | 67.67 | 4:31.82 |
| 7 | Mattia Gaspari | ITA | 18 | 68.13 | 67.63 | 68.39 | 67.83 | 4:31.98 |
| 8 | Jisoo Kim | KOR | 4 | 67.96 | 67.82 | 68.61 | 68.19 | 4:32.58 |
| 9 | Wenhao Chen | CHN | 1 | 68.23 | 67.71 | 68.68 | 68.04 | 4:32.66 |
| 10 | Christopher Grotheer | GER | 10 | 68.04 | 67.83 | 69.06 | 67.92 | 4:32.85 |
| 11 | Zheng Yin | CHN | 11 | 68.30 | 67.96 | 69.08 | 68.22 | 4:33.56 |
| 12 | Felix Keisinger | GER | 3 | 68.45 | 68.09 | 68.88 | 68.38 | 4:33.80 |
| 13 | Vladyslav Heraskevych | UKR | 12 | 68.50 | 68.12 | 68.91 | 68.31 | 4:33.84 |
| 14 | Florian Auer | AUT | 13 | 68.47 | 68.31 | 68.90 | 68.46 | 4:34.14 |
| 15 | Basil Sieber | SUI | 22 | 68.37 | 68.34 | 69.18 | 68.46 | 4:34.35 |
| 16 | Cedric Renner | GER | 27 | 68.08 | 67.93 | 69.47 | 69.04 | 4:34.52 |
| 17 | Samuel Maier | AUT | 21 | 68.77 | 68.25 | 68.92 | 68.65 | 4:34.59 |
| 18 | Axel Jungk | GER | 7 | 69.13 | 67.88 | 69.03 | 68.58 | 4:34.62 |
| 19 | Austin Florian | USA | 5 | 68.82 | 68.14 | 69.35 | 68.77 | 4:35.08 |
| 20 | Alexander Schlintner | AUT | 15 | 69.12 | 68.41 | 69.04 | 69.43 | 4:36.00 |
| 21 | Rasmus Johansen | DEN | 19 | 69.12 | 68.61 | 68.96 | 3:26.69 | |
| 22 | Jean Jacques Buff | SUI | 26 | 68.87 | 68.93 | 68.98 | 3:26.78 | |
| 23 | Blake Enzie | CAN | 16 | 69.13 | 68.53 | 69.15 | 3:26.81 | |
| 24 | Vinzenz Buff | SUI | 34 | 68.84 | 68.94 | 69.18 | 3:26.96 | |
| 25 | Andrew Blaser | USA | 17 | 69.09 | 68.40 | 69.76 | 3:27.25 | |
| 26 | Daniel Barefoot | USA | 23 | 69.06 | 69.73 | 69.38 | 3:28.17 | |
| 27 | Evan Neufeldt | CAN | 25 | 69.64 | 69.20 | 69.38 | 3:28.22 | |
| 28 | Lucas Defayet | FRA | 24 | 69.29 | 68.99 | 70.64 | 3:28.92 | |
| 29 | Colin Freeling | BEL | 28 | 70.22 | 69.42 | 69.75 | 3:29.39 | |
| 30 | Timon Drahonovsky | CZE | 30 | 69.40 | 69.69 | 70.83 | 3:29.92 | |
| 31 | Adrian Rodriguez | ESP | 33 | 70.47 | 69.18 | 71.34 | 3:30.99 | |
| 32 | Jonatan Yaw | MAS | 36 | 71.35 | 70.27 | 70.16 | 3:31.78 | |
| 33 | Brenday Doyle | IRL | 31 | 70.86 | 70.36 | 70.79 | 3:32.01 | |
| 34 | Peter Makrides | AUS | 35 | 70.99 | 70.62 | 71.42 | 3:33.03 | |
| 35 | Akwasi Frimpong | GHA | 29 | 70.84 | 71.05 | 71.84 | 3:33.73 | |
| 36 | Jeff Bauer | LUX | 32 | 71.12 | 71.26 | 72.74 | 3:35.12 |
