From Lake Placid, USA
(January 25, 2025) – Zheng Yin, the reigning IBSF World Championships bronze medalist, led a sweep of the North American Cup men’s skeleton podium in Lake Placid on Saturday against a massive field of athletes.
Teammate Qinwei Lin took the lead by .03 over Yin in the first heat, with Olympic bronze medalist Wengang Yan third.
In the second heat, Yan took the lead from Ukraine’s Vladyslav Heraskevych with only Yan’s teammates remaining. Yin was next, and slid to what would be the fast downtime of the heat.
The pressure was on Lin. His second heat start time matched his first, and but his second slide wasn’t quite as quick. Lin crossed the finish line .08 behind Yin, handing his teammate his second career North American Cup victory.
Lin took silver, and Yan bronze.
Heraskevych was fourth on the American track he’s always good on. Wenhao Chen helped put four Chinese sliders in the top five, while Felix Keisinger was sixth for Germany.
Laurence Bostock was eighth as the top British slider. Jacob Salisbury was 14th, and Kane Densley 16th.
Bradley Nicol was the top American with a top ten in his third race back from injury. Andrew Whittier-Neises was 19th to put two Americans in the top 25. Nicholas Brooks was 27th, Tyler Lutz 29th, Dylan Burris 32nd, and Lukas Kissell 33rd to round out the Team USA effort.
For Canada, Ryan Kuehn was 18th, Josip Brusic 19th and Mark Lynch 23rd. Sebastien Regnier was 34th, Brayden Posyluzny 36th and Eliot Tremblay 37th.
The race doubled as the Pan American Championships. American Bradley Nicol won the championship of the western hemisphere as the top slider from North or South America. Ryan Kuehn was second, and Andrew Whittier-Neises third.
With one race to go in the 2024/2025 IBSF North American Cup men’s skeleton season, Andrew Whittier-Neises clinched the season title. Behind him, Jared Firestone sits second and Nick Timmings third. Wengang Yan is fourth and Lin-Wei Peng fifth.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Finish |
| 1 | Zheng Yin | CHN | 8 | 4.98 | 4.99 | 53.88 | 53.95 | 1:47.83 |
| 2 | Qinwei Lin | CHN | 10 | 4.82 | 4.82 | 53.85 | 54.06 | 1:47.91 |
| 3 | Wengang Yan | CHN | 5 | 5.03 | 4.96 | 53.95 | 54.44 | 1:48.39 |
| 4 | Vladyslav Heraskveych | UKR | 4 | 5.09 | 5.07 | 54.12 | 54.45 | 1:48.57 |
| 5 | Wenhao Chen | CHN | 9 | 5.09 | 5.02 | 54.51 | 54.66 | 1:49.17 |
| 6 | Felix Keisinger | GER | 6 | 5.01 | 5.04 | 54.46 | 54.78 | 1:49.24 |
| 7 | Haifeng Zhu | CHN | 13 | 5.00 | 5.05 | 54.26 | 55.52 | 1:49.78 |
| 8 | Laurence Bostock | GBR | 16 | 4.93 | 4.97 | 54.93 | 55.12 | 1:50.05 |
| 9 | Rasmus Johansen | DEN | 2 | 5.04 | 5.09 | 54.67 | 55.64 | 1:50.31 |
| 10 | Bradley Nicol | USA | 21 | 5.24 | 5.20 | 55.05 | 55.34 | 1:50.39 |
| 11 | Guoqing Yu | CHN | 14 | 5.11 | 5.10 | 55.09 | 55.33 | 1:50.42 |
| 12 | Nicholas Timmings | AUS | 12 | 5.19 | 5.14 | 54.99 | 55.46 | 1:50.45 |
| 13 | Lukas Nydegger | GER | 3 | 5.35 | 5.47 | 54.96 | 55.71 | 1:50.67 |
| 14 | Jacob Salisbury | GBR | 19 | 4.95 | 5.00 | 55.88 | 55.00 | 1:50.88 |
| 15 | Lucas Defayet | FRA | 17 | 5.31 | 5.28 | 55.46 | 55.48 | 1:50.94 |
| 16 | Kane Densley | GBR | 37 | 4.99 | 4.91 | 55.53 | 55.62 | 1:51.15 |
| 17 | Jared Firestone | ISR | 18 | 5.33 | 5.25 | 55.64 | 55.79 | 1:51.43 |
| 18 | Ryan Kuehn | CAN | 29 | 4.98 | 4.97 | 55.76 | 55.75 | 1:51.51 |
| 19 | Andrew Whittier-Neises | USA | 11 | 5.09 | 5.02 | 55.77 | 56.08 | 1:51.85 |
| 19 | Josip Brusic | CAN | 31 | 5.08 | 5.07 | 55.90 | 55.95 | 1:51.85 |
| 21 | Akwasi Frimpong | GHA | 30 | 5.15 | 5.12 | 55.83 | 56.19 | 1:52.02 |
| 22 | Eduardo Strapasson | BRA | 35 | 5.46 | 5.35 | 56.33 | 56.24 | 1:52.57 |
| 23 | Mark Lynch | CAN | 27 | 5.29 | 5.27 | 56.32 | 56.47 | 1:52.79 |
| 24 | Jonathan Yaw | MAS | 26 | 5.25 | 5.22 | 56.39 | 56.71 | 1:53.10 |
| 25 | Lin-Wei Peng | TPE | 20 | 5.26 | 56.43 | |||
| 26 | Nichoals Brooks | USA | 24 | 5.45 | 56.47 | |||
| 27 | Chun-Hung Chiang | TPE | 15 | 5.45 | 56.58 | |||
| 28 | Hayato Kawano | JPN | 32 | 5.24 | 56.76 | |||
| 29 | Tyler Lutz | USA | 25 | 5.00 | 56.92 | |||
| 30 | Kevin Lee | TPE | 22 | 5.31 | 56.95 | |||
| 31 | Jeff Bauer | LUX | 23 | 5.60 | 57.04 | |||
| 32 | Dylan Burris | USA | 28 | 5.32 | 57.06 | |||
| 33 | Lukas Kissell | USA | 38 | 5.48 | 57.31 | |||
| 34 | Sebastien Reginer | CAN | 33 | 4.98 | 57.49 | |||
| 35 | Oren Milsten | ISR | 34 | 5.53 | 57.66 | |||
| 36 | Brayden Posluzny | CAN | 36 | 5.15 | 57.71 | |||
| 37 | Elliot Tremblay | CAN | 39 | 5.92 | 60.94 | |||
| DNS | Axel Jungk | GER | 7 | 5.03 | 54.33 | DNS | ||
| DSQ | Christopher Grotheer | GER | 1 | DSQ |