From Altenberg, GER
Altenberg has been cold, and the track has been fast, and it showed in men’s skeleton. And, for the second time in two days, a German was a first-time winner on tour.
Christopher Grotheer set a track record in both heats (56.20, 56.10) on his way to a gold medal. He needed a flawless run to move Martins Dukurs off the top of the podium and had just that, with a small mishap on the start as the only issue for the German winner.
Dukurs scored his first podium of the season with a silver medal. The Latvian set the track record in the second run, holding onto it for just over a minute before Grotheer broke it.
Axel Jungk finished third in front of his home crowd. Teammate Alexander Gassner finished fourth to put three German sleds in the top four, matching the effort by their women’s skeleton counterparts.
Korean Sungbin Yun finished fifth, leaving Altenberg as the World Cup point leader.
Matt Antoine led the way for the United States, finishing ninth. The American had a bumpy first run, but cleaned up the second run for his third top ten in three races. Teammate Nathan Crumpton finished a season-best tenth, while Kyle Tress finished 25th in the third American sled.
Barrett Martineau was the top scoring North American with an eighth place finish. Canadian teammates Kevin Boyer and Dave Greszczyszyn finished 19th and 23rd respectively.
Both British sliders finished in the top 20, with Dom Parsons finishing 12th and Jack Thomas a season-best 15th. New Zealand’s Rhys Thornbury finished 11th.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Christopher Grotheer | GER | 12 | 5.12 | 5.10 | 56.20 | 56.10 | 1:52.30 |
| 2 | Martins Dukurs | LAT | 11 | 4.96 | 4.97 | 56.42 | 56.18 | 1:52.60 |
| 3 | Axel Jungk | GER | 9 | 5.06 | 5.07 | 56.44 | 56.33 | 1:52.77 |
| 4 | Alexander Gassner | GER | 6 | 5.14 | 5.13 | 56.49 | 56.44 | 1:52.93 |
| 5 | Sungbin Yun | KOR | 13 | 4.99 | 5.03 | 56.64 | 56.62 | 1:53.26 |
| 6 | Nikita Tregybov | RUS | 8 | 5.10 | 5.11 | 56.79 | 56.66 | 1:53.45 |
| 7 | Tomass Dukurs | LAT | 15 | 5.19 | 5.20 | 56.89 | 56.79 | 1:53.68 |
| 8 | Barrett Martineau | CAN | 10 | 5.23 | 5.11 | 57.16 | 56.92 | 1:54.08 |
| 9 | Matt Antoine | USA | 7 | 5.27 | 5.27 | 57.34 | 57.05 | 1:54.39 |
| 10 | Nathan Crumpton | USA | 16 | 5.13 | 5.13 | 57.27 | 57.14 | 1:54.41 |
| 11 | Rhys Thornbury | NZL | 17 | 5.24 | 5.27 | 57.35 | 57.54 | 1:54.89 |
| 12 | Dom Parsons | GBR | 14 | 5.24 | 5.25 | 57.44 | 57.58 | 1:55.02 |
| 13 | Matthias Guggenberger | AUT | 4 | 5.10 | 5.19 | 57.49 | 57.71 | 1:55.20 |
| 14 | Mattia Gaspari | ITA | 27 | 5.27 | 5.30 | 57.45 | 57.81 | 1:55.26 |
| 15 | Jack Thomas | GBR | 26 | 5.09 | 5.10 | 57.50 | 57.86 | 1:55.36 |
| 16 | Ander Mirambell | ESP | 18 | 5.34 | 5.36 | 57.59 | 57.80 | 1:55.39 |
| 17 | Marco Rohrer | SUI | 25 | 5.11 | 5.14 | 57.35 | 58.05 | 1:55.40 |
| 18 | Hiroatsu Takahashi | JPN | 3 | 5.21 | 5.19 | 57.72 | 57.92 | 1:55.64 |
| 19 | Kevin Boyer | CAN | 5 | 5.12 | 5.13 | 57.98 | 58.07 | 1:56.05 |
| 20 | Florian Auer | AUT | 19 | 5.43 | 5.42 | 58.26 | 57.97 | 1:56.23 |
| 21 | Alexander Auer | AUT | 24 | 5.35 | 58.29 | |||
| 22 | Evgeniy Rukosuev | RUS | 20 | 5.16 | 58.51 | |||
| 23 | Dave Greszczyszyn | CAN | 2 | 5.24 | 58.58 | |||
| 24 | Philipp Moelter | CZE | 23 | 5.58 | 58.83 | |||
| 25 | Kyle Tress | USA | 21 | 5.31 | 58.85 | |||
| 26 | Riet Graf | SUI | 1 | 5.39 | 58.97 | |||
| 27 | Katsuyuki Miyajima | JPN | 22 | 5.42 | 59.81 |