Tomass Dukurs Leads Dukurs 1-2 in Sigulda

December 31, 2021 ken News, Skeleton News 0

From Sigulda, LAT

(December 31, 2021) – Tomass Dukurs edged out younger brother Martins in the final race of 2021, winning by .06 to take gold on his home track in Sigulda.

The elder Dukurs came into the second heat in third place, behind his younger brother and Seunggi Jung, who sat first and second respectively. Jung’s second run was a decent run, but not enough to hold back Tomass. That left Martins to go.

Tomass Dukurs (Courtesy IBSF TV)

Very rarely does Martins Dukurs make a mistake. Even more rare is it that the mistake happens in Sigulda. But Dukurs popped the groove at the start and did his very best to drive back, and while it seemed as though gold was completely lost, Martins slid all the way back to within .06 but couldn’t quite edge Tomass for gold.

The gold was Tomass Dukurs’s second, and first in over 15 years. The bronze for Jung was also his first. Between them, Martins Dukurs’s silver was his 21st.

Evgeniy Rukosuev was the top-finishing Russian in fourth place, just ahead of Germany’s Alexander Gassner in fifth. Ukraine’s Vladyslav Heraskevych put down the second quickest run of the race in the second heat and moved up from 13th after the first run to finish sixth, a career best.

Canada’s men didn’t come into the race with very much experience on the track in Sigulda with each of their two men with one race each under their belt. Blake Enzie was able to make the second run and finish in 20th. Teammate Evan Neufeldt finished tied for 24th.

The United States’ men’s skeleton program continued to struggle. Austin Florian finished tied for 24th with Neufeldt after landing a top draw. Andrew Blaser finished 28th.

Matt Weston led the way for Great Britain with a tenth place effort, a tenth out of a tie for eighth. Behind Weston the British men struggled to find speed in Latvia. Marcus Wyatt finished 18th despite what was an otherwise very clean run. Craig Thompson finished 30th from the first starting spot.

With two races to go in the World Cup season Christopher Grotheer still leads the points standings, 22 points ahead of Martins Dukurs, while Axel Jungk sits third.

Results:

Pos Name Nation Bib Start 1 Start 2 Run 1 Run 2 Total
1 Tomass Dukurs LAT 10 4.62 4.60 50.67 50.69 1:41.36
2 Martins Dukurs LAT 8 4.54 4.57 50.31 51.11 1:41.42
3 Seunggi Jung KOR 4 4.50 4.50 50.64 51.09 1:41.73
4 Evgeniy Rukosuev RUS 16 4.57 4.57 50.92 50.82 1:41.74
5 Alexander Gassner GER 11 4.69 4.69 50.94 50.96 1:41.90
6 Vladyslav Heraskevych UKR 21 4.83 4.72 51.30 50.71 1:42.01
7 Nikita Tregubov RUS 6 4.64 4.64 50.84 51.21 1:42.05
8 Vladislav Semenov RUS 13 4.66 4.65 51.06 51.07 1:42.13
8 Christopher Grotheer GER 12 4.61 4.59 51.03 51.10 1:42.13
10 Matt Weston GBR 9 4.54 4.54 51.01 51.22 1:42.23
11 Mattia Gaspari ITA 22 4.76 4.73 51.40 51.03 1:42.43
12 Axel Jungk GER 5 4.65 4.62 51.28 51.27 1:42.55
13 Jisoo Kim KOR 17 4.52 4.54 51.63 50.95 1:42.58
14 Wengang Yan CHN 19 4.64 4.65 51.38 51.25 1:42.63
15 Amedeo Bagnis ITA 18 4.62 4.58 51.33 51.42 1:42.75
16 Samuel Maier AUT 14 4.84 4.84 51.34 51.45 1:42.79
17 Marcus Wyatt GBR 20 4.60 4.58 51.61 51.33 1:42.94
18 Sungbin Yun KOR 15 4.57 0.21 51.03 51.91 1:42.94
19 Zheng Yin CHN 24 4.51 4.43 51.26 51.76 1:43.02
20 Blake Enzie CAN 27 4.71 4.73 51.59 51.56 1:43.15
21 Wenqiang Geng CHN 7 4.73 51.71
22 Ronald Auderset SUI 26 4.66 51.78
23 Rin Kinoshita JPN 30 4.55 51.79
24 Austin Florian USA 3 4.57 51.97
24 Evan Neufeldt CAN 28 4.78 51.97
26 Alexander Schlintner AUT 23 4.71 52.02
27 Basil Sieber SUI 2 4.85 52.16
28 Andrew Blaser USA 25 4.71 52.19
29 Lucas Defayet FRA 29 4.86 52.36
30 Craig Thompson GBR 1 4.53 52.58
31 Mihail Enache ROU 31 4.74 52.62