2013 FIBT World Championships – Men’s Skeleton – Heat 1

From St. Moritz, Switzerland

Unlike last year’s world championships in Lake Placid, we’ve got a bit of a race on our hands.  Alexander Tretjyakov went off third in the first heat, took the lead and never bothered to give it up.  As expected, Martins Dukurs put down a fast time, but is .02 behind the Russian.  Track and weather conditions were slightly different for Dukurs, with a bit more wind during the Latvian’s run.  Russian Sergei Chudinov sits third, just over a quarter-second behind his teammate.

It’s about a half second from Chudinov to a gaggle of sliders, with Kristan Bromley in fourth. Jon Montgomery, Frank Rommel, John Daly, Tomass Dukurs, Christopher Grotheer, Eric Neilson, Ben Sandford and Matt Antoine are all within .3 of Bromley, so it’s really anyone’s race at this point.

Americans John Daly and Matt Antoine both put down what could be considered season-best runs, with Daly tied for seventh with Tomass Dukurs and Antoine tied for 11th with Ben Sandford.  Solid runs throughout the field for the Canadians as well, with Olympic champion John Montgomery fifth, Eric Neilson tenth and John Fairbairn 24th.  Kristan Bromley leads the way for Great Britain in fourth, while Dom Parsons is 13th and Ed Smith 15th.

Results after Heat 1: