From Igls, AUT
(February 16, 2023) – Germany’s Stefan Röttig held off a great second slide by Switzerland’s Livio Summermatter to win gold in Igls.
Röttig held a .01 second lead over Italy’s Giovanni Marchetti going into the second run, with Summermatter lingering around in third, .17 back. In the second heat Summermatter set the quick time of the race to move into the lead with Marchetti and Röttig still to go.
Marchetti’s second run was a bit disappointing, as the Italian fell behind both Summermatter and Germany’s Cedric Renner with Röttig still to go. That run did, however, clinch a career-best European Cup finish for him.
Röttig’s second effort wasn’t quite as quick as Summermatter’s, but his race-fastest start combined with a clean run was enough to keep him ahead of the Swiss slider to win his third gold of the European Cup season.
Summermatter finished second, just.08 back to win his first ever IBSF medal, while Renner moved up from fourth to win bronze.
Marchetti finished fourth, only .02 out of the medals and ahead of Germany’s Ludwig Mannhardt in fifth and Switzerland’s Vinzenz Buff in sixth.
Great Britain’s Patrick Atkin slid into seventh place, while teammate Kane Densley finished 11th for the third time in five races.
The United States sent Bradley Nicol and Nick Tucker to Igls for their first races in Europe. Nicol finished 15th, while Tucker moved up from 17th to 16th on his second effort.
With one race to go in the European Cup men’s skeleton season Röttig and Mannhardt find themselves tied for the lead. Röttig holds the tiebreaker with three wins, so in the event of a tie in the season finale, Röttig would win the title. Cedric Renner is currently in fourth, but is just 39 points behind China’s Haifeng Zhu, and will give Germany a sweep of the season podium with a finish of sixth or better.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Finish |
| 1 | Stefan Röttig | GER | 10 | 4.92 | 4.85 | 52.32 | 52.29 | 1:44.61 |
| 2 | Livio Summermatter | SUI | 12 | 4.95 | 4.89 | 52.49 | 52.20 | 1:44.69 |
| 3 | Cedric Renner | GER | 6 | 5.19 | 5.15 | 52.70 | 52.33 | 1:45.03 |
| 4 | Giovanni Marchetti | ITA | 15 | 4.99 | 4.99 | 52.33 | 52.72 | 1:45.05 |
| 5 | Ludwig Mannhardt | GER | 5 | 5.15 | 5.07 | 52.82 | 52.48 | 1:45.30 |
| 6 | Vinzenz Buff | SUI | 4 | 5.22 | 5.18 | 53.09 | 52.90 | 1:45.99 |
| 7 | Patrick Atkin | GBR | 16 | 4.95 | 5.00 | 53.26 | 52.75 | 1:46.01 |
| 8 | Martin Krause | GER | 26 | 5.07 | 5.09 | 53.12 | 52.93 | 1:46.05 |
| 9 | Marvin Moscara | ITA | 14 | 4.92 | 4.92 | 52.89 | 53.29 | 1:46.18 |
| 9 | Roman Tanzer | AUT | 11 | 5.07 | 5.06 | 53.08 | 53.10 | 1:46.18 |
| 11 | Kane Densley | GBR | 19 | 5.05 | 5.04 | 53.04 | 53.25 | 1:46.29 |
| 12 | Gabriele Marenchino | ITA | 17 | 5.00 | 4.96 | 53.41 | 53.03 | 1:46.44 |
| 13 | Pietro Drovanti | ITA | 7 | 4.95 | 4.94 | 53.16 | 53.84 | 1:47.00 |
| 13 | Lars Rumo | SUI | 3 | 5.28 | 5.23 | 53.58 | 53.42 | 1:47.00 |
| 15 | Bradley Nicol | USA | 9 | 5.10 | 5.08 | 53.52 | 53.83 | 1:47.35 |
| 16 | Nicholas Tucker | USA | 18 | 5.07 | 5.05 | 54.18 | 53.73 | 1:47.91 |
| 17 | Lin-Wei Peng | TPE | 13 | 5.25 | 5.23 | 54.23 | 53.79 | 1:48.02 |
| 18 | Joeri van Kuppeveld | NED | 23 | 5.06 | 5.07 | 54.64 | 54.21 | 1:48.85 |
| 19 | Guido Persoon | NED | 22 | 5.01 | 5.28 | 53.94 | 55.06 | 1:49.00 |
| 20 | Maxime Mingeon | FRA | 2 | 5.37 | 5.35 | 54.53 | 54.90 | 1:49.43 |
| 21 | Mio Olsson Klarqvist | SWE | 21 | 5.49 | 54.77 | |||
| 22 | Gidon Bante | NED | 25 | 5.34 | 54.92 | |||
| 23 | Gabriel Berger | AUS | 20 | 5.72 | 55.02 | |||
| 24 | Didier Van den Broeck | BEL | 27 | 5.54 | 55.08 | |||
| 25 | Eloy Fernandez | ESP | 8 | 5.60 | 55.12 | |||
| 26 | Bor Van Den Berg | NED | 1 | 5.38 | 55.31 | |||
| 27 | Patrick Pade | DEN | 29 | 5.75 | 56.26 | |||
| 28 | Daniel Basas | ESP | 28 | 5.79 | 56.81 | |||
| 29 | Hubert Licman | SLO | 24 | 6.20 | 58.19 |
