From Altenberg, GER
(January 13, 2023) – For a track known for being long and difficult, the racing after one heat in the men’s skeleton race couldn’t have been much closer. Olympic and world champion Christopher Grotheer held a .02 second advantage over South Korea’s Seunggi Jung, with Axel Jungk, Wenhao Chen, and Matt Weston all within just .08 going into the second heat.
Of the medal contenders, Weston went first and both set a quicker start than his first run but also had what would be the fastest downtime of the second heat. The pressure was on those after him, and one by one Weston moved his way up the leaderboard, first with Chen falling behind him, then Jungk. Seunggi Jung, one week after having a disastrous second run while leading after one heat, once again struggled on his second run. Jung fell behind Jungk and eventually finished fourth.
That left Christopher Grotheer between Weston and a gold medal. Grotheer’s second start put him even with Weston at the first split, but he couldn’t quite match Weston’s speed. As Grotheer crossed the line, he found himself .22 back, giving Weston the gold medal, his first of the season.
Weston’s gold was his third in his career and second of the season, having famously been a part of the triple-gold in Igls as well as winning earlier in the 2022/2023 season in Lake Placid.
Grotheer’s silver was his fourth medal (and second silver) in four races.
Jungk took third to round out the podium. He has four top five finishes to start the season.
Jung finished fourth, ahead of Chen in fifth. Great Britain’s Marcus Wyatt was the top slider in field outside of the group contending for the medals and finished sixth.
The United States’ Austin Florian entered the second heat in eighth place. On his second run he looked to be knocked left out of the groove and needed a big steer to keep from a hard hit up top. The remainder of his run was smooth and he held on for an 11th place finish. Teammate Andrew Blaser finished 21st.
Evan Neufeldt was the top Canadian, moving up from 20th in the first heat to finish 18th, one spot ahead of teammate Mark Lynch. Craig Thompson finished 16th to round out the British effort.
Christopher Grotheer is your point leader with three races to go on the World Cup schedule. He holds a nice 69 point lead over Marcus Wyatt, with Axel Jungk in third. Seunggi Jung and Matt Weston sit fourth and fifth.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Matt Weston | GBR | 7 | 4.97 | 4.94 | 56.19 | 56.25 | 1:52.44 |
| 2 | Christopher Grotheer | GER | 11 | 5.02 | 5.02 | 56.11 | 56.47 | 1:52.58 |
| 3 | Axel Jungk | GER | 8 | 5.02 | 5.05 | 56.15 | 56.79 | 1:52.94 |
| 4 | Seunggi Jung | KOR | 5 | 4.96 | 4.98 | 56.13 | 56.90 | 1:53.03 |
| 5 | Wenhao Chen | CHN | 2 | 4.99 | 4.99 | 56.17 | 57.08 | 1:53.25 |
| 6 | Marcus Wyatt | GBR | 6 | 4.96 | 4.94 | 56.47 | 56.85 | 1:53.32 |
| 7 | Jisoo Kim | KOR | 13 | 4.95 | 4.93 | 56.56 | 56.85 | 1:53.41 |
| 8 | Felix Keisinger | GER | 9 | 5.02 | 4.98 | 56.77 | 56.75 | 1:53.52 |
| 9 | Wengang Yan | CHN | 14 | 5.14 | 5.10 | 56.81 | 56.84 | 1:53.65 |
| 10 | Zheng Yin | CHN | 17 | 4.98 | 4.94 | 56.99 | 56.71 | 1:53.70 |
| 11 | Austin Florian | USA | 12 | 4.91 | 4.92 | 56.65 | 57.23 | 1:53.88 |
| 12 | Alexander Schlintner | AUT | 1 | 5.17 | 5.17 | 56.76 | 57.31 | 1:54.07 |
| 13 | Vladyslav Heraskevych | UKR | 10 | 5.26 | 5.24 | 56.83 | 57.38 | 1:54.21 |
| 14 | Florian Auer | AUT | 4 | 5.27 | 5.28 | 57.17 | 57.05 | 1:54.22 |
| 15 | Mattia Gaspari | ITA | 18 | 5.22 | 5.24 | 57.24 | 57.14 | 1:54.38 |
| 16 | Craig Thompson | GBR | 15 | 5.13 | 5.04 | 57.31 | 57.39 | 1:54.70 |
| 17 | Lucas Defayet | FRA | 3 | 5.24 | 5.26 | 57.52 | 58.03 | 1:55.55 |
| 18 | Evan Neufeldt | CAN | 19 | 5.16 | 5.19 | 58.38 | 57.72 | 1:56.10 |
| 19 | Mark Lynch | CAN | 20 | 5.29 | 5.27 | 58.14 | 58.21 | 1:56.35 |
| 20 | Manuel Schwärzer | ITA | 21 | 5.15 | 5.20 | 58.02 | 62.99 | 2:01.01 |
| 21 | Andrew Blaser | USA | 16 | 5.17 | 59.03 |
