From Lake Placid, USA
(March 21, 2024) – China’s Zheng Yin held off a big second slide by Great Britain’s Marcus Wyatt to win the final race of the 2023/2024 IBSF men’s skeleton World Cup season.
Yin took the lead by .11 over Italy’s Amedeo Bagnis after one run, with Wyatt in third just .2 back.
Wyatt found speed all over the place in the second heat. His start was the quickest of the race, and he backed that up with the quickest downtime of the heat to take the lead from teammate Matt Weston and Ukraine’s Vladyslav Heraskevych, who were tied for fourth and then hold it after Bagnis’s second run was just a bit slower than his first.
Yin was the final slider off the top, and while his second run was slower at nearly ever phase, he was able to keep ahead of Wyatt by .04 to win his third race in a row to finish out the season.
The win was Yin’s fifth straight top five finish of the season. For Wyatt, the silver was his third medal of the year.
Bagnis took bronze for his second medal of the year.
Weston and Heraskevych finished tied for fourth, Heraskevych’s best finish of his career, while China’s Wengang Yan rounded out the top six.
The United States’ Austin Florian finished tenth, up from 16th in the first heat after an issue at the start dropped him back early. Teammate Daniel Barefoot finished 16th, and Hunter Williams 23rd.
Great Britain’s Craig Thompson and Jacob Salisbury finished in 15th and 20th to put al four British sleds in the top 20, while Canada’s Ryan Kuehn 27th.
With his fourth place finish, Weston took the season title ahead of Germany’s Christopher Grotheer. Yin finished third, with Seunggi Jung fourth and Wyatt fifth.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Zheng Yin | CHN | 10 | 4.80 | 4.84 | 53.29 | 53.68 | 1:46.97 |
| 2 | Marcus Wyatt | GBR | 13 | 4.81 | 4.77 | 53.49 | 53.52 | 1:47.01 |
| 3 | Amedeo Bagnis | ITA | 5 | 4.79 | 4.84 | 53.40 | 53.94 | 1:47.34 |
| 4 | Matt Weston | GBR | 5 | 4.84 | 4.82 | 53.67 | 53.87 | 1:47.54 |
| 4 | Vladyslav Heraskevych | UKR | 21 | 5.08 | 5.01 | 53.80 | 53.74 | 1:47.54 |
| 6 | Wengang Yan | CHN | 15 | 4.95 | 4.94 | 53.71 | 54.18 | 1:47.89 |
| 7 | Mattia Gaspari | ITA | 14 | 5.05 | 5.00 | 53.68 | 54.29 | 1:47.97 |
| 8 | Jisoo Kim | KOR | 17 | 4.82 | 4.78 | 54.11 | 54.13 | 1:48.24 |
| 9 | Wenqiang Geng | CHN | 34 | 4.99 | 4.97 | 53.94 | 54.36 | 1:48.30 |
| 10 | Austin Florian | USA | 19 | 4.91 | 4.79 | 54.34 | 53.98 | 1:48.32 |
| 11 | Felix Seibel | GER | 8 | 5.01 | 5.04 | 54.13 | 54.29 | 1:48.42 |
| 12 | Vinzenz Buff | SUI | 24 | 5.07 | 5.05 | 54.15 | 54.45 | 1:48.60 |
| 13 | Felix Keisinger | GER | 6 | 4.95 | 4.88 | 54.31 | 54.33 | 1:48.64 |
| 14 | Axel Jungk | GER | 7 | 4.99 | 4.95 | 54.30 | 54.41 | 1:48.71 |
| 15 | Craig Thompson | GBR | 11 | 5.00 | 5.09 | 54.31 | 54.56 | 1:48.87 |
| 16 | Daniel Barefoot | USA | 25 | 5.03 | 5.05 | 54.27 | 54.69 | 1:48.96 |
| 17 | Christopher Grotheer | GER | 9 | 4.96 | 4.98 | 54.37 | 54.64 | 1:49.01 |
| 18 | Rasmus Johansen | DEN | 20 | 4.97 | 4.99 | 54.35 | 54.78 | 1:49.13 |
| 19 | Samuel Maier | AUT | 16 | 5.02 | 5.01 | 54.50 | 54.67 | 1:49.17 |
| 20 | Jacob Salisbury | GBR | 18 | 4.84 | 4.85 | 54.66 | 54.70 | 1:49.36 |
| 21 | Livio Summermatter | SUI | 26 | 4.80 | 4.84 | 54.59 | 54.81 | 1:49.40 |
| 22 | Nicholas Timmings | AUS | 31 | 5.14 | 5.13 | 54.72 | 54.81 | 1:49.53 |
| 23 | Hunter Williams | USA | 30 | 4.92 | 4.95 | 54.71 | 54.86 | 1:49.57 |
| 24 | Yaroslav Lavreniuk | UKR | 2 | 5.18 | 5.12 | 54.70 | 55.08 | 1:49.78 |
| 25 | Lucas Defayet | FRA | 1 | 5.05 | 5.07 | 54.84 | 54.97 | 1:49.81 |
| 26 | Alexander Schlintner | AUT | 22 | 5.03 | 54.87 | |||
| 27 | Ryan Kuehn | CAN | 32 | 4.97 | 55.29 | |||
| 28 | Colin Freeling | BEL | 3 | 5.21 | 55.38 | |||
| 29 | Manuel Schwärzer | ITA | 23 | 5.02 | 55.47 | |||
| 30 | Jared Firestone | ISR | 35 | 5.14 | 55.52 | |||
| 31 | Adrian Rodriguez | ESP | 27 | 5.08 | 55.63 | |||
| 32 | Akwasi Frimpong | GHA | 28 | 5.03 | 55.78 | |||
| 33 | Jonathan Yaw | MAS | 33 | 5.05 | 55.80 | |||
| 34 | Chun-Hung | TPE | 29 | 5.31 | 56.12 | |||
| 35 | Seunggi Jung | KOR | 12 | 6.67 | 56.96 |
