From Altenberg, GER
(February 16, 2024) – Zheng Yin rallied from off of the first heat podium to win his second straight IBSF World Cup gold medal, this time on the hills in Altenberg.
Yin sat in fifth place after the first heat, nearly a half of a second behind leader Matt Weston. Between them sat Seunggi Jung, Felix Seibel, and Christopher Grotheer, the latter two of whom were tied for third after that heat.
The second heat saw faster ice conditions, but like in the women’s race the track became more fickle as the heat went on. Mistakes that could be made earlier in the heat and not really cost any time were complete race breakers late in the second run.
So Yin, the 20th off the top in the second heat, had a strong start and a downtime that was the quickest of the heat, putting the pressure on the athletes ahead of him. Neither Christopher Grotheer nor Felix Seibel could match Yin’s downtime, though Grotheer kept it close enough to stay within a tenth of the Chinese athlete.
South Korea’s Jung went next, and as he did in the first heat, Jung pushed a 4.83, ahead of the old start record held by Alexander Tretiakov. His second slide wasn’t bad, but was a little messier than his first and Jung fell behind Grotheer, with only Weston to go.
Like Jung, Weston matched his first start time. Weston’s second slide though was nothing like his nearly flawless first effort. With a few small skids and an iffy track, the time bled away from the reigning world champion, and as Weston crossed the line he found himself .12 behind Yin, and .09 behind Grotheer in first place to hand Yin his second straight victory.
Yin’s win was his fourth straight top five after a fourth place finish to start the season then finishes of 19th and tenth in La Plagne and Igls.
For Grotheer, the silver medal was his sixth top five in seven races and his fifth medal of the season.
Weston’s bronze was his second straight.
Jung finished the race in fourth, .03 behind Weston. Felix Keisinger and Felix Seibel helped put three of the four German sleds in the top six in fifth and sixth, respectively.
Axel Jungk finished ninth on the fourth German sled.
Great Britain placed two sleds in the top ten, with Marcus Wyatt barely missing out on a top six in seventh place. Jacob Salisbury finished 16th, while Craig Thompson had trouble in his second run and fell to 19th.
American Austin Florian started 21st in the first heat and had a strong slide after a big push to slide into 11th place. In the second heat his 4.88 push matched his first, and his second slide was the third quickest of the heat, over a half of a second faster to move up to eighth. Teammate Dan Barefoot finished 24th, edged out by Vinzenz Buff by .02, while Hunter Williams had just atrocious ice to slide on and finished 28th with an otherwise nice slide.
Canada’s Blake Enzie, like Williams, had a late draw and a good looking slide and that left Enzie on the outside of the second heat looking in. He finished 27th.
With one race to go in the IBSF World Cup season, Christopher Grotheer leads Matt Weston by 75 points, meaning a finish of ninth or better in Lake Placid would clinch the World Cup title for Grotheer. Seunggi Jung sits third, with Zheng Yin fourth and Felix Keisinger fifth.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Zheng Yin | CHN | 11 | 4.92 | 4.89 | 56.29 | 56.20 | 1:52.49 |
| 2 | Christopher Grotheer | GER | 5 | 5.12 | 5.10 | 56.25 | 56.33 | 1:52.58 |
| 3 | Matt Weston | GBR | 4 | 4.93 | 4.93 | 55.83 | 56.78 | 1:52.61 |
| 4 | Seunggi Jung | KOR | 8 | 4.83 | 4.83 | 56.24 | 56.40 | 1:52.64 |
| 5 | Felix Keisinger | GER | 13 | 4.96 | 4.94 | 56.52 | 56.31 | 1:52.83 |
| 6 | Felix Seibel | GER | 7 | 5.20 | 5.19 | 56.25 | 56.64 | 1:52.89 |
| 7 | Marcus Wyatt | GBR | 6 | 4.93 | 4.95 | 56.48 | 56.46 | 1:52.94 |
| 8 | Austin Florian | USA | 21 | 4.88 | 4.88 | 56.84 | 56.28 | 1:53.12 |
| 9 | Axel Jungk | GER | 14 | 5.10 | 5.13 | 56.65 | 56.60 | 1:53.25 |
| 10 | Amedeo Bagnis | ITA | 12 | 4.91 | 4.92 | 56.81 | 56.50 | 1:53.31 |
| 11 | Jisoo Kim | KOR | 19 | 4.90 | 4.84 | 56.97 | 56.61 | 1:53.58 |
| 12 | Wenhao Chen | CHN | 10 | 5.02 | 4.98 | 56.81 | 56.81 | 1:53.62 |
| 13 | Wengang Yan | CHN | 17 | 5.08 | 5.04 | 57.13 | 56.51 | 1:53.64 |
| 14 | Samuel Maier | AUT | 16 | 5.14 | 5.15 | 57.50 | 56.23 | 1:53.73 |
| 15 | Mattia Gaspari | ITA | 15 | 5.21 | 5.27 | 57.13 | 56.75 | 1:53.88 |
| 16 | Jacob Salisbury | GBR | 18 | 4.97 | 4.97 | 57.39 | 56.57 | 1:53.96 |
| 17 | Florian Auer | AUT | 26 | 5.21 | 5.23 | 57.77 | 56.28 | 1:54.05 |
| 18 | Rasmus Johansen | DEN | 20 | 5.10 | 5.09 | 57.55 | 56.58 | 1:54.13 |
| 19 | Craig Thompson | GBR | 9 | 4.99 | 4.98 | 57.23 | 57.28 | 1:54.51 |
| 20 | Lucas Defayet | FRA | 30 | 5.18 | 5.14 | 58.18 | 56.84 | 1:55.02 |
| 21 | Alexander Schlintner | AUT | 22 | 5.10 | 5.13 | 57.61 | 57.41 | 1:55.02 |
| 22 | Manuel Schwärzer | ITA | 23 | 5.14 | 5.11 | 57.92 | 57.31 | 1:55.23 |
| 23 | Vinzenz Buff | SUI | 25 | 5.26 | 5.28 | 58.25 | 57.49 | 1:55.74 |
| 24 | Daniel Barefoot | USA | 24 | 5.17 | 5.19 | 58.19 | 57.57 | 1:55.76 |
| 25 | Timon Drahonovsky | CZE | 3 | 5.38 | 5.30 | 58.16 | 57.81 | 1:55.97 |
| 26 | Yaroslav Lavreniuk | UKR | 2 | 5.37 | 58.57 | |||
| 27 | Blake Enzie | CAN | 29 | 5.20 | 58.73 | |||
| 28 | Hunter Williams | USA | 33 | 5.07 | 58.87 | |||
| 29 | Livio Summermatter | SUI | 27 | 5.06 | 59.04 | |||
| 30 | Colin Freeling | BEL | 28 | 5.44 | 59.07 | |||
| 31 | Akwasi Frimpong | GHA | 32 | 5.09 | 59.69 | |||
| 32 | Chun-Hung Chiang | TPE | 1 | 5.64 | 60.18 | |||
| 33 | Adrian Rodriguez | ESP | 31 | 5.17 | 60.84 | |||
| 34 | Vladyslav Klymenko | UKR | 34 | 5.41 | 62.05 |
