2016/2017 IBSF World Cup – Men’s Skeleton – Race 4

From Winterberg, GER

Winterberg is a German track, and with that it’s expected that Germans have an advantage on what could be considered “home ice”. In men’s skeleton, though, Winterberg is the playground for Martins Dukurs, and everyone else is just racing for second.

It had been eight races since the Latvian had lost in Winterberg, and in the European Championships he wasn’t about to let that streak go by the wayside. Dukurs dominated both heats, finding speed seemingly where no one else could, beating his brother Tomass by .62.

The Latvian duo had been testing equipment over the first part of the season, but it seemed as though with the European Championships looming, there was no way they would step back to let anyone else have the top of the podium.

Alexander Tretiakov finished with a bronze medal in his first race back from a suspension linked to the 2014 Winter Olympics doping scandal.

Christopher Grotheer finished fourth as the top German, while Sungbin Yun struggled on his second trip down to fall from third to fifth. Axel Jungk and Nikita Tregybov finished tied for sixth.

Matt Antoine was the top American finisher on what was a good day overall for the United States. Antoine finished ninth, one spot ahead of teammate Nathan Crumpton. Kyle Tress finished a season-best 14th in the final American entry.

Great Britain put both of their athletes in the top 20, with Dom Parsons finishing 12th and Jack Thomas 16th.

Barrett Martineau was the top-scoring Canadian with a 13th place finish. Teammate Dave Greszczyszyn overcame a tough first run to finish 17th, while Kevin Boyer continued his rookie World Cup campaign with a 25th place finish.

Rhys Thornbury and Ander Mirambell both continued breakout seasons for New Zealand and Spain, respectively. Thornbury finished with an 11th place finish, while Mirambell finished 15th.

Results:

Pos Name Nation Bib Start 1 Start 2 Run 1 Run 2 Total
1 Martins Dukurs LAT 9 4.97 4.90 56.14 55.90 1:52.04
2 Tomass Dukurs LAT 11 5.01 5.04 56.16 57.50 1:52.66
3 Alexander Tretiakov RUS 8 4.87 4.82 56.51 56.20 1:52.71
4 Christopher Grotheer GER 15 5.06 5.00 56.49 56.29 1:52.78
5 Sungbin Yun KOR 7 4.88 4.98 56.40 56.44 1:52.84
6 Axel Jungk GER 6 5.01 4.98 56.60 56.29 1:52.89
6 Nikita Tregybov RUS 14 4.99 4.97 56.44 56.45 1:52.89
8 Alexander Gassner GER 13 5.06 5.04 56.87 56.61 1:53.48
9 Matthew Antoine USA 10 5.17 5.12 57.02 56.75 1:53.77
10 Nathan Crumpton USA 17 5.05 5.02 57.10 56.86 1:53.96
11 Rhys Thornbury NZL 18 5.20 5.15 57.14 56.92 1:54.06
12 Dominic Parsons GBR 12 5.11 5.09 57.14 56.95 1:54.09
13 Barrett Martineau CAN 16 5.08 5.05 57.20 57.02 1:54.22
14 Kyle Tress USA 24 5.20 5.21 57.20 57.15 1:54.35
15 Ander Mirambell ESP 3 5.24 5.16 57.35 57.10 1:54.45
16 Jack Thomas GBR 23 5.01 4.96 57.34 57.21 1:54.55
17 Dave Greszczyszyn CAN 1 5.14 5.11 57.47 57.11 1:54.58
18 Marco Rohrer SUI 26 5.03 5.11 57.37 57.46 1:54.83
19 Matthias Guggenberger AUT 2 5.12 5.08 57.45 57.46 1:54.91
20 Evgeniy Rukosuev RUS 22 5.08 5.08 57.37 57.64 1:55.01
21 Mattia Gaspari ITA 5 5.18 57.56
22 Florian Auer AUT 20 5.27 57.57
23 Katsuyuki Miyajima JPN 25 5.29 57.62
24 Stefan Geisler AUT 19 5.18 57.63
25 Kevin Boyer CAN 4 5.18 57.67
26 Hiroatsu Takahashi JPN 21 5.09 57.74
27 Riet Graf SUI 27 5.14 57.95
28 Denis Lorenčič SLO 28 5.62 60.39