From La Plagne, France
The track in La Plagne seemed to get faster as the first heat progressed, leading to a very tight first heat. Only .55 separates the leader, Canada’s Lyndon Rush, from the 20th place sled. Beat Hefti overcame a really ugly start to finish the first heat in second, only .02 behind, while Simone Bertazzo sits third, only .05 back. Great Britain’s John Jackson is fourth, only .07 back, while Edwin Van Calker is fifth, .15 back. Just behind Van Calker is USA’s Steven Holcomb, only .14 out of a medal.
Cory Butner and Nick Cunningham are 12th and 15th, respectively, but Cunningham’s 51.13 is just a tenth of a second out of 10th place. Justin Kripps and Chris Spring have both of their Canadian sleds in the top 20, with Kripps 14th and Spring 16th. Spring is only .13 out of 10th.
Results after Heat 1:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Draw | Run 1 |
| 1 | Rush/Lumsden | CAN 1 | 8 | 60.63 |
| 2 | Hefti/Baumann | SUI 1 | 11 | 60.65 |
| 3 | Bertazzo/Costa | ITA 1 | 9 | 60.68 |
| 4 | Jackson/Tasker | GBR 1 | 16 | 60.70 |
| 5 | Van Calker/Jansma | NED 1 | 18 | 60.78 |
| 6 | Holcomb/Langton | USA 1 | 2 | 60.82 |
| 7 | Melbardis/Dreiskens | LAT 1 | 10 | 60.83 |
| 8 | Kasjanov/Belugin | RUS 2 | 13 | 60.89 |
| 9 | Arndt/Putze | GER 3 | 15 | 60.95 |
| 10 | Zubkov/Trunenkov | RUS 1 | 7 | 61.03 |
| 11 | Machata/Poser | GER 2 | 6 | 61.04 |
| 12 | Butner/Olsen | USA 2 | 5 | 61.05 |
| 13 | De Bruin/Van Der Zijde | NED 2 | 19 | 61.06 |
| 14 | Kripps/Samuel | CAN 3 | 12 | 61.08 |
| 15 | Cunningham/Drbal | USA 3 | 3 | 61.13 |
| 16 | Spring/Rosenke | CAN 2 | 4 | 61.14 |
| 17 | Servelle/Lefort | MON 1 | 25 | 61.15 |
| 18 | Loacker/Adolf | AUT 1 | 22 | 61.16 |
| 19 | Florschuetz/Kuske | GER 1 | 1 | 61.18 |
| 19 | Peter/Keel | SUI 2 | 14 | 61.18 |
| 21 | Costerg/Heinrich | FRA 2 | 21 | 61.21 |
| 22 | Zalims/Broks | LAT 2 | 20 | 61.24 |
| 22 | Kupczyk/Niewiara | POL 1 | 24 | 61.24 |
| 24 | Abramovitch/Kireev | RUS 3 | 17 | 61.52 |
| 25 | Serise/Vandoorne | BEL 1 | 27 | 61.62 |
| 26 | Deen/Simons | GBR 2 | 23 | 61.81 |
| 27 | Luty/Kasperowicz | POL 2 | 26 | 62.04 |
| 28 | Hladik/Dvorak | CZE 1 | 28 | 62.06 |
| 29 | Godefroy/Ricard | FRA 1 | 29 | 62.45 |
| 30 | Grigore/Craciun | ROU 1 | 30 | 62.63 |
| 31 | Radjenovic/Novakovic | SRB 1 | 31 | 62.75 |
