2014/2015 FIBT World Cup – Men’s Skeleton – Race 6

From La Plagne, FRA

The week leading up to this weekend’s race in La Plagne has been a difficult one for the skeleton athletes, as due to weather there was only two training runs instead of the usual six.  After the first run of men’s skeleton, more sliding was canceled, this time due to poor ice conditions, turning the European Championships into a one-run event.

Martins Dukurs once again proved that he’s the best in the business, winning the European Championship, while setting a track record in the process.  The Latvian is the first ever skeleton athlete to make a sub-one minute run down the French track, winning the race with a time of 59.77.  Olympic champion Alexander Tretiakov finished second, setting a start record in the process to take silver, while Tomass Dukurs took bronze.

Christopher Grotheer finished fourth for Germany, while Nikita Tregybov and Sergei Chudinov helped put all three Russian sleds in the Top 6.

Matt Antoine led the way for the United States with an eighth place effort.  Antoine had some room for improvement after his first run, but the weather kept that from happening. Kyle Tress finished 14th, while Allen Blackwell finished just .09 out of the Top 20 in his first ever World Cup race.

Dave Greszczyszyn finished 13th to lead the way for Canada, while teammate Barrett Martineau took 19th.  Great Britain’s Dom Parsons finished 10th.

Results: