From Lillehammer, NOR
(December 7, 2024) -In a giant field of sliders in Lillehammer, Germany’s Felix Seibel won his first race of the 2024/2025 IBSF Europe Cup season.
Seibel was the second starter in a field of 49 men in the second Europe Cup men’s skeleton race of the season. He took the lead with a 51.04 downtime, and watched as nobody could get within .4 of his downtime.
Nearly two hours later he finally was able to take his second run, and on that run he put down what would be the second quickest time of the whole day as he slid to a .71 second victory over China’s Wengang Yan.
Yan entered the heat in third place, but out-slid Great Britain’s Laurence Bostock to take silver, his second medal in two Europe Cup races. Bostock took bronze, .06 behind Yan.
Austria’s Florian Auer took fourth, tied with Great Britain’s Jacob Salisbury.
Germany’s Ludwig Mannhardt rounded out the top six.
Great Britain put three sliders in the top ten, with Matthew Alvarez in ninth, a career best. Kane Densley finished 11th, while rookies Alexander Wilson and Christopher Charles finished 37th and 38th to round out the British effort.
Nick Tucker led the way for the United States. He slid to a Europe Cup career-best tenth place finish. Darryl Payne missed a second run by .04 and finished 26th, while Sam Allred finished 36th.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Finish |
| 1 | Felix Seibel | GER | 2 | 4.92 | 4.91 | 51.04 | 51.45 | 1:42.49 |
| 2 | Wengang Yan | CHN | 5 | 4.78 | 4.81 | 51.50 | 51.70 | 1:43.20 |
| 3 | Laurence Bostock | GBR | 4 | 4.74 | 4.75 | 51.48 | 51.78 | 1:43.26 |
| 4 | Florian Auer | AUT | 1 | 4.93 | 4.92 | 51.67 | 51.80 | 1:43.47 |
| 4 | Jacob Salisbury | GBR | 8 | 4.71 | 4.73 | 51.77 | 51.70 | 1:43.47 |
| 6 | Ludwig Mannhardt | GER | 10 | 4.91 | 4.89 | 51.68 | 51.84 | 1:43.52 |
| 7 | Stefan Röttig | GER | 7 | 4.71 | 4.72 | 51.67 | 51.97 | 1:43.64 |
| 8 | Davis Valdovskis | LAT | 20 | 4.88 | 4.83 | 51.94 | 52.02 | 1:43.96 |
| 9 | Matthew Alverez | GBR | 11 | 4.74 | 4.71 | 52.18 | 52.16 | 1:44.34 |
| 10 | Nicholas Tucker | USA | 13 | 4.84 | 4.82 | 52.36 | 52.27 | 1:44.63 |
| 11 | Kane Densley | GBR | 18 | 4.70 | 4.69 | 52.26 | 52.46 | 1:44.72 |
| 12 | Timm Beiwinkler | GER | 17 | 4.88 | 4.90 | 52.07 | 52.67 | 1:44.74 |
| 13 | Vladslav Polyvach | POL | 24 | 4.92 | 4.91 | 52.41 | 52.46 | 1:44.87 |
| 14 | Pietro Drovanti | ITA | 15 | 4.74 | 4.78 | 52.21 | 52.68 | 1:44.89 |
| 15 | Joeri Van Kuppeveld | NED | 14 | 4.76 | 4.76 | 52.59 | 52.31 | 1:44.90 |
| 16 | Hayato Kawano | JPN | 31 | 4.78 | 4.77 | 52.44 | 52.48 | 1:44.92 |
| 17 | Manuel Schwärzer | ITA | 35 | 4.90 | 4.93 | 52.38 | 52.58 | 1:44.96 |
| 17 | Valentino Buff | SUI | 37 | 5.18 | 5.17 | 52.60 | 52.36 | 1:44.96 |
| 19 | Lorenzo Conti | ITA | 30 | 4.89 | 4.88 | 52.44 | 52.57 | 1:45.01 |
| 20 | Michal Jakobczyk | POL | 32 | 4.90 | 4.85 | 52.63 | 52.54 | 1:45.17 |
| 21 | Roman Tanzer | AUT | 29 | 4.92 | 5.01 | 52.26 | 53.03 | 1:45.29 |
| 22 | Zhongxu Lin | CHN | 6 | 4.83 | 4.86 | 52.43 | 53.12 | 1:45.55 |
| 23 | Moriz Menning | GER | 22 | 5.22 | 5.17 | 52.73 | 52.84 | 1:45.57 |
| 24 | Niels Sommer | GER | 19 | 4.90 | 5.03 | 52.52 | 53.30 | 1:45.82 |
| 25 | Lars Rumo | SUI | 21 | 5.12 | 5.10 | 52.68 | 53.18 | 1:45.86 |
| 26 | Darryl Payne | USA | 27 | 4.85 | 52.77 | |||
| 27 | Ruojun Zheng | CHN | 3 | 4.83 | 52.91 | |||
| 27 | Guoqing Yu | CHN | 9 | 4.96 | 52.91 | |||
| 29 | Renars Jumikis | LAT | 12 | 4.99 | 53.01 | |||
| 30 | Theodor Buligescu | ROU | 38 | 4.86 | 53.05 | |||
| 31 | Guido Persoon | NED | 16 | 4.77 | 53.13 | |||
| 32 | Krists Turauskis | LAT | 39 | 4.90 | 53.20 | |||
| 33 | Maxime Mingeon | FRA | 33 | 5.00 | 53.25 | |||
| 34 | Luca Ungureanu | ROU | 49 | 5.14 | 53.33 | |||
| 35 | Bor Van Den Berg | NED | 34 | 4.78 | 53.36 | |||
| 36 | Sam Allred | USA | 26 | 4.84 | 53.40 | |||
| 37 | Alexander Wilson | GBR | 40 | 4.86 | 53.48 | |||
| 38 | Christopher Charles | GBR | 42 | 4.91 | 53.76 | |||
| 39 | Sander De Haan | NED | 25 | 4.95 | 53.86 | |||
| 40 | Anton Bergström | SWE | 47 | 5.20 | 54.04 | |||
| 41 | Taldo Nagao | JPN | 36 | 4.89 | 54.06 | |||
| 42 | Vladyslav Klymenko | UKR | 23 | 4.93 | 54.22 | |||
| 43 | Peter Jedinak | SVK | 43 | 5.26 | 54.49 | |||
| 44 | Lazar Mikic | SRB | 50 | 5.29 | 54.88 | |||
| 45 | Leonid Tkachuk | UKR | 45 | 5.27 | 54.90 | |||
| 46 | Gidon Bante | NED | 28 | 4.89 | 55.35 | |||
| 47 | Bogdan Despotovic | SRB | 41 | 5.41 | 55.80 | |||
| 48 | Anton Kovalchuk | UKR | 48 | 5.54 | 56.94 | |||
| 49 | Maksyn Churlovych | UKR | 46 | 5.51 | 57.98 | |||
| DNS | Felix de Wit | NED | 44 | DNS |