Weston Holds Huge Lead in Skeleton World Championships

January 26, 2023 ken News, Skeleton News 0

From St. Moritz, SUI

(January 26, 2023) – The 2023 IBSF men’s skeleton world championships are Matt Weston’s to lose, as the British slider opened up a huge lead on the field over two heats on Thursday morning.

Weston opened up nearly a half of a second lead over Italy’s Amdedeo Bagnis in the first heat, with Weston’s teammate Marcus Wyatt back in third, South Korea’s Seunggi Jung in fourth and Great Britain’s Craig Thompson in fifth.

On the second run everyone’s positions held, but with both Bagnis and Wyatt coming back to Jung and Thompson to tighten up the battle for second.

But on his second run Weston went even faster and became the first slider in St. Moritz this season to break the 1:07 mark with a 1:06.88 to open up a 1.13 second advantage over Bagnis.

Weston slides through Horse Shoe (Sliding On Ice photo)

“The first run was probably my best here on the track,” Weston said about his race. “I had a few mistakes in the second one, although it didn’t show in my downtime. I’m really excited to see what’s in it tomorrow.”

Bagnis, likely the biggest surprise in the top five, was also a bit shocked by his two runs.

“Second place is also surprising for me,” he said. “The slides were good, I hope I can start faster tomorrow.”

China’s Wengang Yan slid past Jisoo Kim into sixth place to round out the top six.

Italy has put a good showing in the men’s skeleton race thus far, with Mattia Gaspari sliding up to seventh from tenth place in the first heat.

Austin Florian led the way for the United States in 17th place after two runs. He moved up from 18th in the first heat, and is well within range of a top 15. Andrew Blaser moved up two spots from 22nd to 20th with his second run, while Daniel Barefoot had a tough second run and fell to 27th after a 21st run in the first heat.

For Canada, Blake Enzie moved up from 25th to 22nd after two runs. Teammate Evan Neufedlt sits 28th after two heats.

Results After 2 Runs:

Pos Name Nation Bib Start 1 Start 2 Run 1 Run 2 Total
1 Matt Weston GBR 8 4.81 4.80 67.08 66.88 2:13.96
2 Amadeo Bagnis ITA 20 4.93 4.90 67.55 67.54 2:15.09
3 Marcus Wyatt GBR 9 4.82 4.79 67.77 67.49 21:15.26
4 Seunggi Jung KOR 6 4.85 4.79 67.88 67.39 2:15.27
5 Craig Thompson GBR 14 4.82 4.89 67.91 67.43 2:15.34
6 Wengang Yan CHN 1 4.91 4.90 68.00 67.66 2:15.66
7 Mattia Gaspari ITA 18 5.03 5.02 68.13 67.63 2:15.76
8 Jisoo Kim KOR 4 4.80 4.78 67.96 67.82 2:15.78
9 Christopher Grotheer GER 10 4.90 4.85 68.04 67.83 2:15.87
10 Wenhao Chen CHN 1 4.89 4.82 68.23 67.71 2:15.94
11 Cedric Renner GER 27 5.05 5.02 68.08 67.93 2:16.01
12 Zheng Yin CHN 11 4.83 4.81 68.30 67.96 2:16.26
13 Felix Keisinger GER 3 4.95 4.81 68.45 68.09 2:16.54
14 Vladyslav Heraskevych UKR 12 5.08 5.06 68.50 68.12 2:16.62
15 Basil Sieber SUI 22 5.15 5.10 68.37 68.34 2:16.71
16 Florian Auer AUT 13 5.07 5.07 68.47 68.31 2:16.78
17 Austin Florian USA 5 4.90 4.86 68.82 68.14 2:16.96
18 Axel Jungk GER 7 5.18 4.92 69.13 67.88 2:17.01
19 Samuel Maier AUT 21 5.03 5.03 68.77 68.25 2:17.02
20 Andrew Blaser USA 17 4.99 4.94 69.09 68.40 2:17.49
21 Alexander Schlintner AUT 15 5.02 5.03 69.12 68.41 2:17.53
22 Blake Enzie CAN 16 5.02 5.00 69.13 68.53 2:17.66
23 Rasmus Johansen DEN 19 5.02 5.01 69.12 68.61 2:17.73
24 Vinzenz Buff SUI 34 5.10 5.10 68.84 68.94 2:17.78
25 Jean Jacques Buff SUI 26 5.22 5.28 68.87 68.93 2:17.80
26 Lucas Defayet FRA 24 5.06 5.08 69.29 58.99 2:18.28
27 Daniel Barefoot USA 23 5.05 5.04 69.06 69.73 2:18.79
28 Evan Neufeldt CAN 25 5.00 4.99 69.64 69.20 2:18.84
29 Timon Drahonovsky CZE 30 5.20 5.15 69.40 69.69 2:19.09
30 Colin Freeling BEL 28 5.17 5.21 70.22 69.42 2:19.64
31 Adrian Rodriguez ESP 33 5.16 5.09 70.47 69.18 2:19.65
32 Brenday Doyle IRL 31 5.06 5.05 70.86 70.36 2:21.22
33 Peter Makrides AUS 35 5.23 5.27 70.99 70.62 2:21.61
34 Jonatan Yaw MAS 36 5.10 5.05 71.35 70.27 2:21.62
35 Akwasi Frimpong GHA 29 5.01 5.06 70.84 71.05 2:21.89
36 Jeff Bauer LUX 32 5.40 5.34 71.12 71.26 2:22.38