From Pyeongchang, KOR
Feb. 15, 2018 – Sungbin Yun will take a .74 of a second lead into the second day of sliding on his home track in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
In front of a massive home-town crowd, the Korean broke both his existing start record and the existing track record on the way to a combined time of 1:40.35, well ahead of second place Nikita Tregubov.
Yun was really happy with his opening day of racing.
“I expected to have a good day today. There were a few nerves, but I settled in and slide how I knew how,” Yun said of his first run.
Tregubov was right on time with both of his runs, coming across the line after his second run with two hands up off the sled to celebrate a combined 1:41.09. The athlete from Russia was in the ballpark with his first trip down, but struggled to keep pace on the second run.
Sitting in third place is Martins Dukurs, who used a second-fastest run in the second heat to move up from fifth into a medal position. Dukurs, who has two Olympic silver medals to go with a mountain of World Cup and World Championship titles, is looking for his first Olympic gold medal in a sport in which he’s dominated over the past decade.
Dukurs was a little disappointed in his first run, and will look to pick up the pace on his third and fourth runs.
“The conditions have been fast, and the track is really in good shape. There are some things I have to change, I was happy with the second run. I’ll try to do better tomorrow.”
Dom Parsons finished the second heat in fourth place, a position he’s thrilled with. The course has really fit his style well.
“I’ve been working hard on this track since we first came here,” Parsons said. “The ice has changed on each visit, but I’ve found a groove with it that just works.”
Latvian Tomass Dukurs finished the day in fifth, while Korean Jisoo Kim will go into the second day of sliding in sixth.
The first heat of the day bit both of the Americans, with Matt Antoine and John Daly both having trouble through Curve 9 to put them in 12th and 13th. On the second heat, both sliders found their groove, and Antoine moved up into 11th while Daly closed the gap between himself and some of the athletes ahead of him.
Antoine was really happy with how his second run went, and feels confident about his second day of sliding.
“I had a big mistake in Curve 9, which you can’t have here. The second run’s start was a bit better but I have more there. I’ll get after that, but the second run was the best run I’ve ever had here from top to bottom.”
For Daly, like many of us, he just needed to learn to trust a little bit more.
“It’s still the Olympics, so there’s still some settling of nerves there. I don’t think I trusted coming out of Curve 9 as much as I should have in the first run. The second run I just went with it and trusted it. The mistakes weren’t horrible and the runs weren’t perfect, so there’s something there.”
The Canadians struggled on the first day of sliding, with only Kevin Boyer cracking the top 20 in 17th place. Teammates Dave Greszczyzyn sits 21st and Barrett Martineau 25th with one day to go.
Greszczyszyn moved up from 23rd with an 18th fastest run in the second heat, and is confident going into Run 3.
“It was a tough first run,” Greszczyszyn said. “I had a pretty good warm-up and as feeling pretty good. I may have been too tense in the first run, and was fighting through the first couple of corners and never really got my rhythm. I’ll see if I can get up into the top 20 and get into that final run.”
Men’s skeleton continues on Friday, February 16 at 9:30 AM Korean (7:30 PM Thursday Eastern).
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total | Math |
| 1 | Sungbin Yun | KOR | 6 | 50.28 | 50.07 | 1:40.35 | 100.35 |
| 2 | Nikita Tregubov | OAR | 10 | 50.59 | 50.50 | 1:41.09 | 101.09 |
| 3 | Martins Dukurs | LAT | 9 | 50.85 | 50.38 | 1:41.23 | 101.23 |
| 4 | Dom Parsons | GBR | 16 | 50.85 | 50.41 | 1:41.26 | 101.26 |
| 5 | Tomass Dukurs | LAT | 8 | 50.88 | 50.58 | 1:41.46 | 101.46 |
| 6 | Jisoo Kim | KOR | 23 | 50.80 | 50.86 | 1:41.66 | 101.66 |
| 7 | Axel Jungk | GER | 7 | 50.77 | 51.01 | 1:41.78 | 101.78 |
| 8 | Rhys Thornbury | NZL | 20 | 50.90 | 51.03 | 1:41.93 | 101.93 |
| 9 | Christopher Grotheer | GER | 11 | 51.05 | 51.06 | 1:12.11 | 102.11 |
| 10 | Alexander Gassner | GER | 12 | 51.05 | 51.08 | 1:12.13 | 102.13 |
| 11 | Matthew Antoine | USA | 13 | 51.16 | 50.98 | 1:42.14 | 102.14 |
| 12 | Jerry Rice | GBR | 21 | 51.06 | 51.15 | 1:42.21 | 102.21 |
| 13 | John Daly | USA | 18 | 51.23 | 51.15 | 1:42.38 | 102.38 |
| 14 | Wenqiang Geng | CHN | 24 | 51.51 | 50.87 | 1:42.38 | 102.38 |
| 15 | Vladyslav Heraskevych | UKR | 26 | 51.26 | 51.16 | 1:42.42 | 102.42 |
| 16 | Matthias Guggenberger | AUT | 14 | 51.38 | 51.29 | 1:42.67 | 102.67 |
| 17 | Kevin Boyer | CAN | 19 | 51.46 | 51.24 | 1:42.70 | 102.70 |
| 18 | Vladislav Marchenkov | OAR | 17 | 51.27 | 51.49 | 1:42.76 | 102.76 |
| 19 | Alex Hanssen | NOR | 3 | 51.44 | 51.51 | 1:42.95 | 102.95 |
| 19 | John Farrow | AUS | 27 | 51.64 | 51.31 | 1:42.95 | 102.95 |
| 21 | Dave Greszczyszyn | CAN | 15 | 51.73 | 51.31 | 1:43.04 | 103.04 |
| 22 | Dorin Velicu | ROU | 2 | 51.91 | 51.51 | 1:43.42 | 103.42 |
| 23 | Hiroatsu Takahashi | JPN | 25 | 52.00 | 51.50 | 1:43.50 | 103.50 |
| 24 | Joseph Luke Cecchini | ITA | 29 | 51.88 | 51.80 | 1:43.68 | 103.68 |
| 25 | Barrett Martineau | CAN | 22 | 51.94 | 51.76 | 1:43.70 | 103.70 |
| 25 | Ander Mirambell | ESP | 4 | 51.64 | 52.06 | 1:43.70 | 103.70 |
| 27 | Katsuyuki Miyajima | JPN | 28 | 51.63 | 52.15 | 1:43.78 | 103.78 |
| 28 | AJ Edelman | ISR | 30 | 52.48 | 52.43 | 1:44.91 | 104.91 |
| 29 | Anthony Watson | JAM | 1 | 53.13 | 54.04 | 1:47.17 | 107.17 |
| 30 | Akwasi Frimpong | GHA | 5 | 53.97 | 54.46 | 1:48.43 | 108.43 |
