2012/2013 FIBT World Cup - Round 5 - Men's Skeleton

From La Plagne, France

Martins Dukurs holds just under a .3 advantage over Alexander Tretjyakov after the first heat in La Plagne. A far cry from last week’s fast speeds, both the start and track records appear to not be in any danger of being broken.

Possibly the biggest surprise of the race is Frank Rommel, who is currently tied for 11th with Hiroatsu Takahashi. Rommel had a seemingly clean run, but just couldn’t find the speed in his sled.

All three American sliders make it into the second heat, with Matt Antoine and John Daly both solidly in the top 10, with Antoine 6th and Daly 8th, while Kyle Tress is knocking on the door in 13th. Equally good runs from the Canadians, with Eric Neilson, Jon Montgomery and John Fairbairn 9th, 10th and 14th respectively. British Skeleton puts all three of their sliders into the second heat as well, with Kristan Bromley leading the way in 5th, while Dominic Parsons and Ed Smith sit 15th and 17th after their first run.

Results after Heat 1:

Pos	Name	Nation	Draw	Run 1
1	Martins Dukurs	LAT	6	60.80
2	Alexander Tretjyakov	RUS	1	61.08
3	Tomass Dukurs	LAT	3	61.35
4	Sergei Chudinov	RUS	12	61.67
5	Kristan Bromley	GBR	4	61.73
6	Matthew Antoine	USA	2	61.78
7	Alexander Kroeckel	GER	8	61.89
8	John Daly	USA	10	61.99
9	Eric Neilson	CAN	9	62.02
10	Jon Montgomery	CAN	17	62.10
11	Frank Rommel	GER	5	62.20
11	Hiroatsu Takahashi	JPN	18	62.20
13	Kyle Tress	USA	16	62.34
14	John Fairbairn	CAN	7	62.48
15	Dominic Edward Parsons	GBR	13	62.57
15	Maurizio Oioli	ITA	14	62.57
17	Ed Smith	GBR	15	62.60
18	Alexanderos Kefalas	GRE	25	62.70
19	Shinsuke Tayama	JPN	22	62.71
20	Ben Sandford	NZL	11	62.85
21	Matthias Guggenberger	AUT	20	62.92
22	Michael Hoefer	SUI	19	63.01
23	Lukas Kummer	SUI	23	63.13
24	Giovanni Mulassano	ITA	24	63.23
25	Ander Mirambell	ESP	21	63.83