From Lake Placid, USA
(January 6, 2026) – Dan Barefoot dominated the field in his first North American Cup race in nearly two years, winning by nearly a full second over France’s Lucas Defayet.
Barefoot was 15th off in the first heat and slid to a .37 second advantage over South Korea’s Chanhyuk Yeo, with Defayet in third, .41 back.
In the second heat, Israel’s Jared Firestone threw down a big run to take the lead from ninth place. He held his advantage ahead of Japan’s Hiro Takahashi and The Netherlands’ Joeri Van Kuppeveld before being overtaken by Canada’s Josip Brusic.
The duo then continued up the ladder together, with Australia’s Nick Timmings and South Korea’s Yeonsu Shin before being picked off by Defayet.
After a bumpy run by Yeo set Shin back and out of the medals it was time for Barefoot’s second effort.
Barefoot, atop the start block as the last slider in a race for the first time in his career, pushed off with a strong start and was easily ahead by the first split. His advantage continued to grow to .55 in the heat and .96 in the race for his first career victory at any level of IBSF racing.
Defayet took silver, and Brusic bronze.
Firetsone, Yeo, and Shin rounded out the top six.
Hunter Williams tied for 15th for the United States, with Lukas Kissell also in the second run in 23rd. Tyler Madl, Sam Allred, and Tyler Lutz rounded out the American effort in 26th through 28th, respectively.
Behind Brusic, Canada’s Ryan Kuehn had the fourth quickest run of the second heat to slide up to 17th from 22nd. Dion Charles was 29th and Andrew Pidwerbesky 30th.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Finish |
| 1 | Daniel Barefoot | USA | 15 | 4.94 | 4.96 | 53.90 | 54.08 | 1:47.98 |
| 2 | Lucas Defayet | FRA | 6 | 5.07 | 5.00 | 54.31 | 54.63 | 1:48.94 |
| 3 | Josip Brusic | CAN | 1 | 5.02 | 4.94 | 54.61 | 54.46 | 1:49.07 |
| 4 | Jared Firestone | ISR | 4 | 5.03 | 5.05 | 54.69 | 54.40 | 1:49.09 |
| 5 | Chanhyuk Yeo | KOR | 5 | 4.87 | 4.90 | 54.27 | 54.87 | 1:49.14 |
| 6 | Yeonsu Shin | KOR | 7 | 5.13 | 5.09 | 54.37 | 54.86 | 1:49.23 |
| 7 | Nicholas Timmings | AUS | 2 | 5.09 | 5.07 | 54.58 | 54.84 | 1:49.42 |
| 8 | Hiroatsu Takahashi | JPN | 10 | 5.00 | 4.99 | 54.67 | 54.94 | 1:49.61 |
| 9 | Taido Nagao | JPN | 16 | 5.02 | 5.01 | 54.78 | 55.15 | 1:49.93 |
| 10 | Jonathan Yaw | MAS | 8 | 5.06 | 5.06 | 54.78 | 55.17 | 1:49.95 |
| 11 | Youngmin Song | KOR | 13 | 4.86 | 4.86 | 55.14 | 54.88 | 1:50.02 |
| 12 | Lin-Wei Peng | TPE | 3 | 5.06 | 5.08 | 54.85 | 55.20 | 1:50.05 |
| 13 | Adrian Rodriguez | ESP | 20 | 5.06 | 5.04 | 55.26 | 54.97 | 1:50.23 |
| 14 | Colin Freeling | BEL | 31 | 5.25 | 5.27 | 55.01 | 55.24 | 1:50.25 |
| 15 | Eduardo Strapasson | BRA | 11 | 5.20 | 5.20 | 54.79 | 55.62 | 1:50.41 |
| 15 | Hunter Williams | USA | 19 | 5.08 | 5.06 | 55.07 | 55.34 | 1:50.41 |
| 17 | Ryan Kuehn | CAN | 9 | 4.98 | 4.97 | 55.93 | 54.60 | 1:50.53 |
| 18 | Zander Greco | CAN | 17 | 5.02 | 5.05 | 55.26 | 55.35 | 1:50.61 |
| 19 | Sebastien Regnier | CAN | 12 | 4.93 | 4.92 | 55.18 | 55.49 | 1:50.67 |
| 20 | Joeri Van Kuppeveld | NED | 18 | 4.93 | 5.06 | 54.65 | 56.28 | 1:50.93 |
| 21 | Peter Makrides | AUS | 14 | 5.13 | 5.14 | 55.95 | 55.57 | 1:51.52 |
| 22 | Akwasi Frimpong | GHA | 28 | 5.17 | 5.13 | 55.79 | 55.79 | 1:51.58 |
| 23 | Lukas Kissell | USA | 27 | 5.09 | 5.13 | 55.94 | 56.33 | 1:52.27 |
| 24 | Oren Milstein | ISR | 26 | 5.25 | 5.27 | 55.90 | 56.44 | 1:52.34 |
| 25 | Kevin Heng Lee | TPE | 24 | 5.09 | 5.16 | 55.96 | 56.41 | 1:52.37 |
| 26 | Tyler Madl | USA | 30 | 5.28 | 56.35 | |||
| 27 | Sam Allred | USA | 21 | 5.15 | 56.37 | |||
| 28 | Tyler Lutz | USA | 23 | 4.88 | 56.53 | |||
| 29 | Dion Charles | CAN | 25 | 5.16 | 56.95 | |||
| 30 | Andrew Pidwerbesky | CAN | 29 | 5.26 | 57.94 | |||
| DNS | Jeff Bauer | LUX | 22 | DNS |