From Altenberg, GER
Feb. 11, 2021 – Alexander Tretiakov holds a small lead over Germany’s Felix Keisinger and defending champion Christopher Grotheer after two runs in the 2021 IBSF World Championships in Altenberg.
Tretiakov held a .07 second lead over Keisinger after the opening heat. On the second run, both Keisinger and Grotheer put down clean and quick runs, while Tretiakov made a big mistake out of Curve 5 to allow the Germans to close the gap. By the end of Tretiakov’s second run only .06 separated the top three.
Evginiy Rukosuev was the big mover of the second heat, jumping up from 7th to 4th with what was the fourth quickest run of the heat. While well behind the top three, he will carry a .17 second advantage over Alexander Gassner going into the third heat.
Great Britain’s Matt Weston will start the third heat in sixth place. He was tied for fifth with Tomass Dukurs going into the second run, and while he fell behind Rukosuev, he had two strong slides to stay ahead of Nikita Tregubov, Dukurs, and most everyone else.
The United States’ Austin Florian will spend his Thursday night in tenth place. He entered the second heat in 12th but with a strong second run and a top-five start he was able to move up the order, just one spot ahead of Austria’s Samy Maier. Teammate Austin McCrary will go into the second day of sliding in 28th in his first world championship race.
For Canada, Mark Lynch came into the second heat tied for 15th with Austria’s Florian Auer. Lynch, who is looking to better his only previous world championship finish of 23rd, struggled in his second run after a tough exit out of Kreisel almost flipped him over. Despite his incident he was able to end the day in 21st. Kyle Murray moved up one spot in his second run to finish the day in 27th.
It was a tale of two races for Great Britain. Neither Craig Thompson or Marcus Wyatt could match the pace of teammate Matt Weston, as both entered the second heat on the fringes of the top 20. Both men moved up one spot after Lynch’s second run issues and will go into the third heat in 18th and 19th, respectively.
World Cup champion Martins Dukurs struggled in the first heat and found himself out of the top ten in the first heat of a World Championship since 2007. His second heat was worse, and Dukurs will enter the third heat in 14th.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Alexander Tretiakov | BFR | 6 | 4.98 | 4.98 | 56.58 | 56.72 | 1:53.30 |
| 2 | Felix Keisinger | GER | 8 | 4.95 | 4.99 | 56.65 | 56.69 | 1:53.34 |
| 3 | Christopher Grotheer | GER | 5 | 5.07 | 5.12 | 56.74 | 56.62 | 1:53.36 |
| 4 | Evgeniy Rukosuev | BFR | 24 | 4.99 | 4.97 | 57.04 | 56.75 | 1:53.79 |
| 5 | Alexander Gassner | GER | 4 | 5.09 | 5.12 | 56.95 | 57.01 | 1:53.96 |
| 6 | Matt Weston | GBR | 13 | 5.00 | 5.05 | 57.03 | 57.10 | 1:54.13 |
| 7 | Nikita Tregubov | BFR | 9 | 5.02 | 5.04 | 57.24 | 56.97 | 1:54.21 |
| 8 | Tomass Dukurs | LAT | 10 | 5.12 | 5.12 | 57.03 | 57.34 | 1:54.37 |
| 9 | Mattia Gaspari | ITA | 18 | 5.20 | 5.21 | 57.52 | 57.24 | 1:54.76 |
| 10 | Austin Florian | USA | 21 | 4.99 | 4.98 | 57.48 | 57.30 | 1:54.78 |
| 11 | Samuel Maier | AUT | 17 | 5.20 | 5.26 | 57.25 | 57.57 | 1:54.82 |
| 12 | Amedeo Bagnis | ITA | 26 | 5.14 | 5.17 | 57.42 | 57.49 | 1:54.91 |
| 13 | Florian Auer | AUT | 14 | 5.24 | 5.24 | 57.62 | 57.39 | 1:55.01 |
| 14 | Martins Dukurs | LAT | 7 | 5.00 | 4.98 | 57.43 | 57.70 | 1:55.13 |
| 15 | Ronald Auderset | SUI | 19 | 5.06 | 5.14 | 57.73 | 57.60 | 1:55.33 |
| 16 | Sungbin Yun | KOR | 20 | 4.91 | 4.95 | 57.94 | 57.56 | 1:55.50 |
| 17 | Vladyslav Heraskevych | UKR | 16 | 5.25 | 5.26 | 57.58 | 57.95 | 1:55.53 |
| 18 | Craig Thompson | GBR | 15 | 4.95 | 4.99 | 57.98 | 57.79 | 1:55.77 |
| 19 | Marcus Wyatt | GBR | 11 | 5.00 | 4.98 | 58.03 | 57.88 | 1:55.91 |
| 20 | Daniil Romanov | BFR | 12 | 5.01 | 5.02 | 58.70 | 57.69 | 1:56.39 |
| 21 | Seunggi Jung | KOR | 23 | 5.01 | 4.97 | 58.75 | 57.83 | 1:56.58 |
| 22 | Jisoo Kim | KOR | 22 | 5.08 | 5.06 | 58.64 | 58.22 | 1:56.86 |
| 23 | Mark Lynch | CAN | 28 | 5.28 | 5.31 | 57.62 | 59.49 | 1:57.11 |
| 24 | Nicholas Timmings | AUS | 32 | 5.34 | 5.40 | 58.55 | 58.67 | 1:57.22 |
| 25 | Nathan Crumpton | ASA | 2 | 5.14 | 5.17 | 58.71 | 58.64 | 1:57.35 |
| 26 | Basil Sieber | SUI | 3 | 5.36 | 5.41 | 58.78 | 58.60 | 1:57.38 |
| 27 | Kyle Murray | CAN | 29 | 5.32 | 5.31 | 59.04 | 58.95 | 1:57.99 |
| 28 | Austin McCrary | USA | 1 | 5.56 | 5.56 | 58.90 | 59.18 | 1:58.08 |
| 29 | Mihai Pacioianu | ROU | 27 | 5.23 | 5.16 | 59.31 | 58.83 | 1:58.14 |
| 30 | Colin Freeling | BEL | 31 | 5.42 | 5.44 | 59.69 | 59.39 | 1:59.08 |
| 31 | Jeff Bauer | LUX | 30 | 5.58 | 5.58 | 59.97 | 60.54 | 2:00.51 |
| 32 | Akwasi Frimpong | GHA | 33 | 5.43 | 5.43 | 60.75 | 60.42 | 2:01.17 |
| DNS | Ander Mirambell | ESP | 25 | DNS |
