From Sigulda, LAT
(February 2, 2024) – Zheng Yin opened up a lead on a very trick Sigulda track on Friday morning, and then held on for dear life as a handful of sliders took shots at him as he won his first career IBSF World Cup gold medal in Latvia.
Yin had a top five start in both heats, and in the first heat had a .19 second lead over Great Britain’s Marcus Wyatt, with reigning world champion Matt Weston in third, well back of Yin.
In the second heat Weston put down a flier of a run the quickest of the medal contenders to take the lead ahead of Germany’s Felix Keisinger, who had moved well up the order from the first heat. Wyatt was next off the block and while he was out-slid by his teammate in the second run, it was only by a hundredth and enough to take the lead and secure at least a silver medal.
Yin pushed off quicker than either Wyatt or Weston, but his second run wasn’t quite what he had put down in the first heat. However, it was still more than enough to give the Chinese slider his first gold medal and China’s first outright gold on tour.
China’s previous gold medal came as part of the historic three-way tie with Wenqiang Geng, Christopher Grotheer, and Weston.
Wyatt’s silver medal was his best finish since Sigulda in the 2022/2023 season, while Weston’s bronze was his third medal of the season.
Germany’s Felix Keisinger slid from sixth in the first heat to fourth, two tenths out of the medals for his best finish since Igls earlier in the season.
Austin Florian put down the best run of his season in the second heat. His 4.55 start was the quickest of the race, and his 50.47 downtime was the fastest downtime of the heat and third quickest of the event. That effort was enough to move him up from tenth in the first heat to fifth for his best finish since Altenberg in the 2023/2024 season.
China’s Wenhao Chen rounded out the top six.
Jacob Salisbury scored a career-best World Cup finish with a seventh finish, teammate Craig Thompson rounded out the British effort with a 12th place run.
For the Americans, Dan Barefoot made the second heat in 22nd, and in that second heat dropped one spot but finished 23rd. Hunter Williams finished 29th to round out the American effort.
Canada’s Blake Enzie slid into the second heat and finished 24th. Teammate Mark Lynch made his first World Cup start of the season, and took his first look at the track in Sigulda with a 33rd place finish.
The race doubled as the European Championships, in which Marcus Wyatt won the title (his first medal in the Euros), defending champ Matt Weston took silver, and Felix Keisinger bronze.
With two races to go in the 2023/2024 IBSF World Cup season, Christopher Grotheer leads Matt Weston by 65 points. Seunggi Jung sits third after a 17th place effort on Friday, while Zheng Yin and Craig Thompson round out the top five.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Zheng Yin | CHN | 6 | 4.59 | 4.57 | 50.24 | 50.58 | 1:40.82 |
| 2 | Marcus Wyatt | GBR | 4 | 4.61 | 4.58 | 50.43 | 50.57 | 1:41.00 |
| 3 | Matt Weston | GBR | 5 | 4.61 | 4.61 | 50.60 | 50.56 | 1:41.16 |
| 4 | Felix Keisinger | GER | 7 | 4.65 | 4.59 | 50.77 | 50.59 | 1:41.36 |
| 5 | Austin Florian | USA | 22 | 4.58 | 4.55 | 50.90 | 50.47 | 1:41.37 |
| 6 | Wenhao Chen | CHN | 9 | 4.67 | 4.65 | 50.80 | 50.70 | 1:41.50 |
| 7 | Jacob Salisbury | GBR | 20 | 4.59 | 4.58 | 50.73 | 50.80 | 1:41.53 |
| 8 | Felix Seibel | GER | 14 | 4.78 | 4.77 | 50.73 | 50.89 | 1:41.62 |
| 9 | Christopher Grotheer | GER | 11 | 4.75 | 4.74 | 50.83 | 50.89 | 1:41.72 |
| 10 | Amedeo Bagnis | ITA | 13 | 4.57 | 4.62 | 51.04 | 50.75 | 1:41.79 |
| 11 | Mattia Gaspari | ITA | 16 | 4.86 | 4.84 | 50.85 | 50.95 | 1:41.80 |
| 12 | Craig Thompson | GBR | 10 | 4.59 | 4.61 | 50.99 | 51.09 | 1:42.08 |
| 13 | Rasmus Johansen | DEN | 21 | 4.74 | 4.71 | 51.00 | 51.11 | 1:42.11 |
| 14 | Vladyslav Heraskevych | UKR | 19 | 4.90 | 4.85 | 51.06 | 51.09 | 1:42.15 |
| 15 | Samuel Maier | AUT | 17 | 4.75 | 4.77 | 51.13 | 51.06 | 1:42.19 |
| 16 | Axel Jungk | GER | 8 | 4.72 | 4.70 | 51.14 | 51.10 | 1:42.24 |
| 17 | Seunggi Jung | KOR | 12 | 4.56 | 4.52 | 51.03 | 51.24 | 1:42.27 |
| 18 | Lucas Defayet | FRA | 1 | 4.78 | 4.76 | 51.10 | 51.25 | 1:42.35 |
| 19 | Wengang Yan | CHN | 15 | 4.71 | 4.72 | 51.15 | 51.37 | 1:42.52 |
| 20 | Vinzenz Buff | SUI | 26 | 4.89 | 4.87 | 51.36 | 51.22 | 1:42.58 |
| 21 | Jisoo Kim | KOR | 18 | 4.61 | 4.60 | 51.15 | 51.51 | 1:42.66 |
| 22 | Alexander Schlintner | AUT | 24 | 4.75 | 4.75 | 51.62 | 51.26 | 1:42.88 |
| 23 | Daniel Barefoot | USA | 25 | 4.85 | 4.82 | 51.42 | 51.58 | 1:43.00 |
| 24 | Blake Enzie | CAN | 31 | 4.76 | 4.76 | 51.47 | 51.91 | 1:43.38 |
| 25 | Manuel Schwärzer | ITA | 23 | 4.78 | 5.74 | 51.73 | 52.15 | 1:43.88 |
| 26 | Florian Auer | AUT | 27 | 4.87 | 51.77 | |||
| 27 | Livio Summermatter | SUI | 28 | 4.74 | 51.83 | |||
| 28 | Vladyslav Polyvach | POL | 2 | 4.93 | 51.99 | |||
| 29 | Hunter Williams | USA | 34 | 4.73 | 52.28 | |||
| 30 | Colin Freeling | BEL | 29 | 5.02 | 52.37 | |||
| 31 | Nicholas Timmings | AUS | 3 | 4.95 | 52.40 | |||
| 32 | Timon Drahonovsky | CZE | 33 | 4.97 | 52.68 | |||
| 33 | Mark Lynch | CHN | 36 | 4.86 | 52.76 | |||
| 34 | Akwasi Frimpong | GHA | 32 | 4.88 | 52.99 | |||
| 35 | Yaroslav Lavreniuk | UKR | 35 | 5.13 | 56.44 | |||
| DNF | Adrian Rodriguez | ESP | 30 | 4.86 | DNF |
