Del Duca Wins NAC Opener in Lake Placid

From Lake Placid, USA

(November 15, 2023) – Frank Del Duca cruised to victory in the first event of the 2023/2024 IBSF North American Cup season with a half-second victory over Korea’s Jinsu Kim.

Del Duca, with Josh Williamson returning from injury on the brakes, backed up quick starts with the two fastest runs of the competition on his way to his eighth NAC two-man gold medal as a pilot.

Kim broke up a potential American sweep of the podium with his silver medal effort. A former push athlete behind Korean legend Yunjong Won, Kim and brakeman Sunwook Kim had the two fastest starts of the race.

Geoffrey Gadbois and Darius Joseph rounded out the top three. The bronze medal for Gadbois was his 11th medal in 13 two-man NAC races in Lake Placid.

Kris Horn finished in fourth place with Reidsville, NC’s Adrian Adams on his brakes for the second quickest start of the second run. Canada’s Pat Norton and Shaq Murray-Lawrence finished fifth, while South Korea’s Hyeonggeun Kim and Jonghee Park rounded out the top six.

Israel’s AJ Edelman, Australia’s Cam Scott, USA’s Shane Fisher, and Israel’s Aaron Spiliopoulos rounded out the ten sled field. It was the first international competition for Scott, Fisher, and Spiliopoulos.

Results:

Pos Names Nation Bib Start 1 Start 2 Run 1 Run 2 Finish
1 Del Duca / Williamson USA 3 5.18 5.18 56.80 56.84 1:53.64
2 J. Kim / S. Kim KOR 4 5.12 5.10 56.96 57.18 1:54.14
3 Gadbois / Joseph USA 5 5.31 5.31 57.22 57.41 1:54.63
4 Horn / Adams USA 6 5.21 5.14 57.36 57.38 1:54.74
5 Norton / Murray-Lawrence CAN 1 5.25 5.24 57.31 57.62 1:54.93
6 H. Kim / Park KOR 8 5.25 5.25 58.90 58.96 1:57.86
7 Edelman / Jackson ISR 2 5.74 5.74 59.20 59.58 1:58.78
8 Scott / Peters AUS 10 5.56 5.60 60.29 60.17 2:00.46
9 Fisher / Storms USA 7 6.04 6.06 60.30 60.24 2:00.54
10 Spiliopoulos / Allon ISR 9 5.74 5.81 64.70 61.23 2:25.93