From Winterberg, Germany
Beat Hefti had the Winterberg track record in 2008, and lost it for about 12 runs. By the end of Heat 1, though, he’s got the record and the lead. Hefti’s time of 55.42 is .44 quicker than the track record coming in.
Alexander Zubkov is second, briefly taking the track record from Lyndon Rush, who set the early pace and is currently third.. Thomas Florschuetz sits fourth, .41 behind, while Steven Holcomb had a clean but uncharacteristically slower run, and is .43 behind Hefti, currently sitting fifth. German Max Arndt was disqualified after leaving too early.
A bumpy start by American Cory Butner leaves him 11th after the first heat, while a tough run by teammate Nick Cunningham leaves the USA 3 sled 16th. Canadian Justin Kripps had a solid run on his first official race at Winterberg and sits 8th, while his teammate Chris Spring is 10th. British slider John Jackson survives a late set of runs to stick around in the top 20, currently 18th.
Results after Heat 1:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Draw | Run 1 |
| 1 | Hefti/Lamparter | SUI 2 | 14 | 55.42 |
| 2 | Zubkov/Trunenov | RUS 1 | 4 | 55.60 |
| 3 | Rush/Lumsden | CAN 1 | 2 | 55.64 |
| 4 | Florschuetz/Kuske | GER 1 | 11 | 55.83 |
| 5 | Holcomb/Tomasevicz | USA 1 | 7 | 55.85 |
| 6 | Peter/Friedli | SUI 1 | 12 | 55.97 |
| 7 | Machata/Poser | GER 2 | 10 | 56.01 |
| 8 | Kripps/Samuel | CAN 3 | 13 | 56.04 |
| 9 | Bertazzo/Costa | ITA 1 | 1 | 56.05 |
| 10 | Spring/Coakwell | CAN 2 | 8 | 56.07 |
| 11 | Butner/Quinn | USA 2 | 6 | 56.13 |
| 12 | Stulnev/Pushkarev | RUS 3 | 17 | 56.17 |
| 13 | Melbardis/Dreiskens | LAT 1 | 5 | 56.19 |
| 14 | De Bruin/Van Der Zijde | NED 2 | 19 | 56.20 |
| 15 | Loacker/Adolf | AUT 1 | 20 | 56.26 |
| 16 | Cunningham/Fogt | USA 3 | 9 | 56.27 |
| 17 | Abramovitch/Prudnikov | RUS 2 | 18 | 56.31 |
| 18 | Jackson/Baines | GBR 1 | 15 | 56.34 |
| 19 | Van Calker/Jansma | NED 1 | 16 | 56.36 |
| 20 | Kupczyk/Niewiara | POL 1 | 21 | 56.42 |
| 21 | Neagu/Moldovan | ROU 1 | 23 | 56.55 |
| 22 | Serise/Vandoorne | BEL 1 | 25 | 56.65 |
| 23 | Radjenovic/Zlatnar | SRB 1 | 26 | 56.70 |
| 24 | Luty/Pawilojc | POL 2 | 22 | 56.92 |
| 25 | Rinaldi/Torre | MON 1 | 27 | 57.12 |
| 26 | Hladik/Dvorak | CZE 1 | 24 | 57.85 |
