Yan Edges Seibel in Winterberg EC Opener

November 30, 2024 ken European Cup News, Skeleton News 0

From Winterberg, GER

(November 30, 2024) – Wengang Yan won the Europe Cup opener in a giant field of sliders, and had to hold off Germany’s Felix Seibel to take gold.

Seibel was the first slider off the top in the 2024/2025 Europe Cupe men’s skeleton season, and held the lead for exactly one sled. That’s when China’s Yan took over. From there, nobody had anything for the leaders. Laurence Bostock, Stefan Röttig, and Jacob Salisbury all lingered around the medals, with all five men within .4 of each other.

In the second heat Salisbury was wable to leapfrog Röttig, but couldn’t keep his British teammate Bostock from taking the lead and guaranteeing Great Britain a medal.

Seibel was next and bettered his first heat time by .05, enough to take the lead by .33 with only Yan to go.

Yan outstarted Seibel by .16 in the second heat, and his second slide matched Seibel’s downtime, keeping the .15 second advantage he had in the first heat to win gold, with Seibel silver and Bostock bronze.

The win for Yan was the Olympic bronze medalist’s third straight and fourth in five races this season. He’d previously won three races in Asian Cup action.

For Seibel, the silver medal comes in his first start on the tour since the 2019/2020 season where he won the Europe Cup title. Bostock’s bronze was his third medal in his last four Europe Cup races.

Salisbury took fourth, with Röttig fifth. Germany’s Ludwig Mannhardt finished sixth.

The United States put two sliders in the top 25. Nick Tucker finished a Europe Cup career-best 12th, up from 13th in the first heat. Teammate Darryl Payne tied a EC career-best with an 18th place finish, while Sam Allred finished 32nd, also a career-best tying effort.

Great Britain had the full complement of six sliders in the field. Behind veterans Salisbury and Bostock, Matthew Alvarez jumped up from 15th in the first heat to 11th in his first career race. Kane Densley finished 17th, Alexander Wilson 33rd and Chrsitopher Charles 41st.

Results:

Pos Name Nation Bib Start 1 Start 2 Run 1 Run 2 Finish
1 Wengang Yan CHN 2 4.99 4.94 55.53 55.63 1:51.16
2 Felix Seibel GER 1 5.14 5.10 55.68 55.63 1:51.31
3 Laurence Bostock GBR 5 4.97 4.96 55.84 55.80 1:51.64
4 Jacob Salisbury GBR 3 4.87 4.93 55.92 55.79 1:51.71
5 Stefan Röttig GER 4 4.94 4.91 55.90 55.93 1:51.83
6 Ludwig Mannhardt GER 14 5.19 5.14 56.14 56.12 1:51.26
7 Emils Indriksons LAT 46 5.16 5.10 56.33 55.94 1:52.27
8 Timm Beiwinkler GER 6 5.12 5.09 56.09 56.19 1:52.28
9 Davis Valdovskis LAT 26 5.10 5.04 56.25 56.24 1:52.49
10 Niels Sommer GER 16 5.08 5.07 56.36 56.15 1:52.51
11 Matthew Alvarez GBR 41 4.94 4.93 56.67 56.03 1:52.70
12 Nicholas Tucker USA 9 5.03 5.05 56.47 56.29 1:52.76
13 Renars Jumikis LAT 28 5.15 5.12 56.44 56.47 1:52.91
14 Pietro Drovanti ITA 8 4.95 4.92 56.80 56.31 1:53.11
15 Guido Persoon NED 21 4.94 4.95 56.62 56.69 1:53.31
16 Joeri van Kuppeveld NED 15 4.95 4.98 56.77 56.59 1:53.36
17 Kane Densley GBR 10 4.91 4.96 56.44 56.94 1:53.38
18 Darryl Payne USA 11 4.99 4.99 56.67 56.74 1:53.41
19 Moritz Menning GER 52 5.38 5.37 56.94 56.61 1:53.55
20 Manuel Schwärzer ITA 7 5.11 5.08 56.81 56.79 1:53.60
21 Vladyslav Polyvach POL 17 5.17 5.18 56.70 56.93 1:53.63
22 Timon Drahonovsky CZE 12 5.23 5.19 56.91 56.79 1:53.70
23 Michal Jakobczyk POL 45 5.12 5.10 56.85 56.90 1:53.75
24 Lars Rumo SUI 14 5.35 5.35 56.79 57.23 1:54.02
25 Vladyslav Klymenko UKR 27 5.15 5.17 56.82 57.22 1:54.04
26 Theodor Buligescu ROU 53 5.17 56.97
27 Valentino Buff SUI 30 5.44 57.00
28 Lorenzo Conti ITA 24 5.08 57.01
29 Taido Nagao JPN 39 5.04 57.10
30 Adrian Rodriguez ESP 18 5.15 57.17
31 Bor van den Berg NED 23 5.00 57.43
32 Sam Allred USA 22 5.01 57.46
33 Alexander Wilson GBR 43 5.10 57.50
34 Maxime Mingeon FRA 19 5.15 57.54
35 Sander de Haan NED 31 5.19 57.59
36 Roman Tanzer AUT 20 5.25 57.60
37 Krists Turauskis LAT 55 5.21 57.67
38 Samuele Battaini SUI 35 5.49 57.72
39 Gidon Bante NED 25 5.07 57.80
39 Hayato Kawano JPN 48 5.12 57.80
41 Christopher Charles GBR 54 5.18 57.92
42 Peter Jedinak SVK 34 5.61 58.00
43 Lazar Mikic SRB 38 5.53 58.10
44 Luca Ungureanu ROU 40 5.48 58.13
45 Felix de Wit NED 29 5.51 58.31
46 Anton Bergström SWE 37 5.50 58.79
47 Sven Reich RUI 50 5.56 58.81
48 Leonid Tkachuk UKR 32 5.51 58.91
49 Bogdan Despotovic SRB 49 5.84 59.99
50 Pau Olive Miro ESP 51 5.89 60.05
51 Maksym Churlovych UKR 42 5.93 60.46
52 Martin Souto Otero ESP 36 5.94 60.81
52 Anton Kovalchuk UKR 47 5.78 60.81
54 Tirso Ocana de la Vega ESP 44 5.38 60.93
55 Kostiantyn Dziuba UKR 33 6.03 61.03