From Beijing, CHN
(February 9, 2022) – The men’s skeleton race was one of the sliding events that was up in the air. Questions flew around as to who might take an early lead: Would it be one of the Chinese sliders, would Martins Dukurs finally win a gold medal? What about the Germans, they’ve never medaled in men’s skeleton…
…well it was the last one. By a country mile. After two heats Germany’s Christopher Grotheer holds a comical .7 second lead over teammate Axel Jungk. After one run Grotheer held a .36 second lead over Russia’s Tretiakov, the largest one-heat lead since the 1928 Olympics in St. Moritz, while teammate Jungk sat back in fifth. On the second run Jungk moved up the order with a combination of the second quickest run of the heat and a few mistakes from the sliders ahead of him.
Then it was Grotheer’s turn. The German set what would be the second fastest run of the competition thus far to open up a giant lead over Jungk and the rest of the field.
The race is effectively Grotheer’s to lose. Barring a technical issue on weight or something to that effect, as long as Grotheer sets two clean runs in the third and fourth heats the two-time world champion will be an Olympic champion.
“I had a really, really good first day,” Grotheer said. “The first run was brilliant, and the second run was also really good. I hope tomorrow I can have a similar performance!”
Behind Grotheer, the second day of sliding for the men will see quite the battle for the medals. Jungk propelled himself up the order, and finds himself just .05 ahead of China’s Wengang Yan in third place. Russian Olympic Committee’s Alexander Tretiakov and Evgeniy Rukosuev are tied for fourth, only .12 out of the medals, with Dukurs only .04 behind them in sixth.
Dukurs, a perennial medal favorite, said that some large mistakes would need to be cleaned up.
“I did some massive mistakes here and there,” he said. “There were others you didn’t see on the television, either. But those small mistakes cost me time.”
Matt Weston led the way for Great Britain in 13th place, tied with Austria’s Samy Maier. Teammate Marcus Wyatt sits in 17th with two runs to go.
The United States has one slider in the Olympic men’s skeleton field in Andrew Blaser. Blaser finished his first run in 20th place, but fell back to 21st on his second run after a strong slide by Nathan Crumpton put the American Samoan slider into the to 20.
For Blaser, who didn’t compete in the test event in the autumn, the third run is another chance to improve.
“Every run is an opportunity to learn something more,” he told USA Bobsled & Skeleton after his second run. “I haven’t been able to really nail Curve 10 and it’s causing some issues for me a little further down in the Spiral, and hopefully we can get it tomorrow and really attack tomorrow’s first run and have a better outcome.”
Canada’s Blake Enzie, the youngest competitor in the field, finished the first two runs in 19th place.
Australia’s Nick Timmings had a hard hit at the top of his first run after his sled jerked right out of the start groove. He finished that first heat in 25th
The final two heats of men’s skeleton will take place on Friday, February 11 at 7:20 AM ET.
Results After 2 Runs:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | IBSF Rank | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Christopher Grotheer | GER | 4 | 3 | 4.79 | 4.82 | 60.00 | 60.33 | 2:00.33 |
| 2 | Axel Jungk | GER | 8 | 2 | 4.77 | 4.75 | 60.50 | 60.53 | 2:01.03 |
| 3 | Wengang Yan | CHN | 18 | 23 | 4.75 | 4.74 | 60.43 | 60.65 | 2:01.08 |
| 4 | Evgeniy Rukosuev | ROC | 12 | 11 | 4.66 | 4.68 | 60.48 | 60.72 | 2:01.20 |
| 4 | Alexander Tretiakov | ROC | 5 | 4 | 4.72 | 4.69 | 60.36 | 60.84 | 2:01.20 |
| 6 | Martins Dukurs | LAT | 7 | 1 | 4.70 | 4.69 | 60.62 | 60.62 | 2:01.24 |
| 7 | Zheng Yin | CHN | 21 | 29 | 4.60 | 4.62 | 60.74 | 60.71 | 2:01.45 |
| 8 | Tomass Dukurs | LAT | 6 | 8 | 4.87 | 4.79 | 60.76 | 60.79 | 2:01.55 |
| 9 | Alexander Gassner | GER | 13 | 6 | 4.86 | 4.86 | 60.87 | 60.86 | 2:01.73 |
| 10 | Seunggi Jung | KOR | 10 | 10 | 4.67 | 4.68 | 61.18 | 61.04 | 2:02.22 |
| 11 | Amedeo Bagnis | ITA | 16 | 16 | 4.79 | 4.73 | 61.05 | 61.19 | 2:02.24 |
| 12 | Sungbin Yun | KOR | 11 | 12 | 4.72 | 4.72 | 61.26 | 61.17 | 2:02.43 |
| 13 | Samuel Maier | AUT | 14 | 15 | 4.95 | 4.95 | 61.36 | 61.13 | 2:02.49 |
| 13 | Matt Weston | GBR | 9 | 9 | 4.75 | 4.64 | 61.34 | 61.15 | 2:02.49 |
| 15 | Mattia Gaspari | ITA | 17 | 18 | 4.83 | 4.84 | 61.20 | 61.31 | 2:02.51 |
| 16 | Vladyslav Heraskevych | UKR | 15 | 17 | 4.98 | 4.92 | 61.63 | 61.58 | 2:03.21 |
| 17 | Macrus Wyatt | GBR | 19 | 21 | 4.73 | 4.72 | 61.56 | 61.72 | 2:03.28 |
| 18 | Alexander Schlintner | AUT | 20 | 24 | 4.86 | 4.84 | 61.56 | 61.73 | 2:03.29 |
| 19 | Blake Enzie | CAN | 24 | 34 | 4.87 | 4.86 | 61.65 | 61.76 | 2:03.41 |
| 20 | Nathan Crumpton | ASA | 22 | 26 | 4.89 | 4.85 | 62.06 | 61.65 | 2:03.71 |
| 21 | Andrew Blaser | USA | 2 | 28 | 4.81 | 4.85 | 61.80 | 62.08 | 2:03.88 |
| 22 | Basil Sieber | SUI | 25 | 51 | 5.02 | 4.99 | 61.95 | 62.16 | 2:04.11 |
| 23 | Daniil Romanov | ROC | 3 | 25 | 4.69 | 4.65 | 62.47 | 62.60 | 2:05.07 |
| 24 | Ander Mirambell | ESP | 1 | 37 | 5.18 | 5.19 | 62.45 | 63.36 | 2:05.81 |
| 25 | Nicholas Timmings | AUS | 23 | 31 | 5.00 | 4.98 | 63.76 | 62.83 | 2:06.59 |
