From Lillehammer, NOR
(March 10, 2024) – The United States’ Robert Balk took the lead from the 12th starting spot in the first heat of the four-run Para Sport World Championships in Lillehammer and never gave it back as the American took his first title.
Balk edged out Switzerland’s Cristopher Stewart and Great Britain’s Corie Mapp in the first heat by just .01 and .04 respectively. The top seven, in fact, were only separated by .24 in what was tight racing throughout the top half of the field.
But in the second heat Balk once again put down the quick time of the heat, enough to open up .2 between himself and Stewart. Mapp’s second effort dropped him over .3 back behind Balk.
On Sunday, Balk was the first sled off the top and once again was quicker than everyone else which felt like would be enough to all but clinch the race early for Balk, where Balk would need just a Friedrichesque victory lap on the final run.
But in that last heat Mapp, who had struggled a bit in his middle two runs, put down the quick run of the heat to take the lead and put himself into the medals with only Stewart and Balk to go.
Stewart’s final run was a tenth off of Mapp’s time, but more than enough to take the lead.
Balk’s last effort was his slowest of the race. In the middle of the run, where he’d been better than everyone all weekend, Balk was relatively sloppy and came nearly all the way back to Stewart, finishing just .08 ahead of the Swiss pilot to hold on for victory.
Balk’s gold was his first career world championship title and his first ever medal outside of the United States.
For Stewart, silver was his best ever championships finish as well, and his third straight world champs podium finish.
Corie Mapp, the current World Cup point leader, took bronze for his first championships medal in five years.
Flavio Menardi finished fourth for Italy, .32 out of the medals. Spain’s Israel Blanco was fifth, .05 behind Menardi, while Sebastian Westin finished sixth for Sweden. Westin tied Balk for the quick time in the second heat.
Guillermo Castillo finished ninth to put two American sleds in the top ten. David Christopher finished 13th, with Austin Parker 14th to finish out the American effort.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Run 1 | Run 2 | Run 3 | Run 4 | Total |
| 1 | Robert Balk | USA | 12 | 55.84 | 55.96 | 55.90 | 56.40 | 3:44.10 |
| 2 | Christohper Stewart | SUI | 9 | 55.85 | 56.15 | 55.92 | 56.26 | 3:44.18 |
| 3 | Corie Mapp | GBR | 15 | 55.88 | 56.23 | 56.34 | 56.16 | 3:44.61 |
| 4 | Flavio Mendardi | ITA | 2 | 56.00 | 56.20 | 56.20 | 56.53 | 3:44.93 |
| 5 | Israel Blanco | ESP | 5 | 55.97 | 56.18 | 56.34 | 56.49 | 3:44.98 |
| 6 | Sebastian Westin | SWE | 10 | 56.19 | 55.96 | 56.33 | 56.59 | 3:45.07 |
| 7 | David Jennewein | ITA | 8 | 55.96 | 56.47 | 56.63 | 56.20 | 3:45.26 |
| 8 | Arturs Klots | LAT | 4 | 56.08 | 56.30 | 56.41 | 56.63 | 3:45.42 |
| 9 | Guillermo Castillo | USA | 11 | 56.16 | 56.34 | 56.32 | 56.66 | 3:45.48 |
| 10 | Fabrizio Caselli | ITA | 6 | 56.28 | 56.54 | 56.76 | 56.41 | 3:45.99 |
| 11 | Hermann Ellmauer | AUT | 13 | 56.38 | 56.30 | 56.82 | 56.60 | 3:46.10 |
| 12 | Gabriela Knapova | CZE | 1 | 56.84 | 56.74 | 57.34 | 56.69 | 3:47.61 |
| 13 | David Christopher | USA | 3 | 56.85 | 56.85 | 57.28 | 57.12 | 3:48.10 |
| 14 | Austin Parker | USA | 7 | 57.19 | 57.18 | 57.37 | 57.11 | 3:48.85 |
