From Park City, USA
(December 1, 2022) – A few hours after the women had shattered the track record in Park City, the men turned around and followed suit. Atop the heap of sliders under the track record was Germany’s Christopher Grotheer, who broke the track record in the first heat, then broke it again in the second heat on his way to a gold medal.
Grotheer’s first downtime was a 48.14, .04 ahead of Korea’s Seunggi Jung, and just ahead of Korea’s Jisoo Kim, Great Britain’s Marcus Wyatt, Germany’s Felix Keisinger, and USA’s Austin Florian, all of whom were under Sungbin Yun’s prior track record of 48.50.
On the second run Wyatt was the first to make a move, sliding from fourth into the lead with only Jung and Grotheer to go. Jung put down a strong second run of his own to edge out Wyatt and give himself at least a silver.
The pressure was on Grotheer, and the Olympic champion answered the call. Not only was he quicker off the top, he broke his track record to slide into gold. Jung took silver, his second in a row, and Wyatt bronze for his second straight medal.
The gold for Grotheer was the third World Cup gold of his career, matching the number of majors he’s won (two World Champs and an Olympics).
Germany’s Felix Keisinger moved up from fifth to finish fourth, while Jisoo Kim fell to fifth. The United States’ Austin Florian scored a career-best sixth place finish after popping the groove in his second run but stopping before the start line to regroup and restart.
USA’s Andrew Blaser entered the second run in ninth place, but fell back to 11th after being leapfrogged by Germany’s Axel Jungk and China’s Wengang Yan.
Blake Enzie was the top Canadian in 16th, while Evan Neufeldt finished one spot back in 17th.
On his first run, Great Britain’s Matt Weston popped the groove and tried to stop before he got to the start timing line. He was unable to do so and ended up with a downtime nearly three seconds off the leader’s pace. His second run was the fourth quickest, and he was able to move up one spot to 18th.
Laurence Bostock, Great Britain’s third slider down in the first heat, had two solid runs in his first World Cup race in Park City and finished 14th.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Christopher Grotheer | GER | 7 | 4.70 | 4.61 | 48.14 | 48.12 | 1:36.26 |
| 2 | Seunggi Jung | KOR | 10 | 4.60 | 4.57 | 48.18 | 48.25 | 1:36.43 |
| 3 | Macrus Wyatt | GBR | 12 | 4.57 | 4.59 | 48.35 | 48.28 | 1:36.63 |
| 4 | Felix Keisinger | GER | 8 | 4.59 | 4.59 | 48.40 | 48.63 | 1:37.03 |
| 5 | Jisoo Kim | KOR | 1 | 4.62 | 4.59 | 48.33 | 48.72 | 1:37.05 |
| 6 | Austin Florian | USA | 4 | 4.63 | 4.64 | 48.42 | 48.77 | 1:37.19 |
| 7 | Axel Jungk | GER | 6 | 4.66 | 4.65 | 48.72 | 48.52 | 1:37.24 |
| 8 | Wengang Yan | CHN | 19 | 4.73 | 4.74 | 48.70 | 48.60 | 1:37.30 |
| 9 | Wenhao Chen | CHN | 17 | 4.64 | 4.64 | 48.51 | 48.82 | 1:37.33 |
| 10 | Zheng Yin | CHN | 18 | 4.60 | 4.61 | 48.59 | 48.81 | 1:37.40 |
| 11 | Andrew Blaser | USA | 3 | 4.79 | 4.81 | 48.69 | 48.92 | 1:37.61 |
| 12 | Vladyslav Heraskevych | UKR | 9 | 4.82 | 4.86 | 48.80 | 48.88 | 1:37.68 |
| 13 | Alexander Schlintner | AUT | 2 | 4.73 | 4.77 | 48.84 | 48.97 | 1:37.81 |
| 14 | Laurence Bostock | GBR | 15 | 4.64 | 4.75 | 48.87 | 49.10 | 1:37.97 |
| 15 | Florian Auer | AUT | 13 | 4.88 | 4.85 | 49.20 | 48.92 | 1:38.12 |
| 16 | Blake Enzie | CAN | 11 | 4.77 | 4.80 | 48.95 | 49.24 | 1:38.19 |
| 17 | Evan Neufeldt | CAN | 14 | 4.76 | 4.76 | 49.51 | 49.54 | 1:39.05 |
| 18 | Matt Weston | GBR | 5 | 6.00 | 4.59 | 51.07 | 48.37 | 1:39.44 |
| 19 | Peter Makrides | AUS | 16 | 4.90 | 4.86 | 49.96 | 49.94 | 1:39.90 |
