From St. Moritz, Switzerland
The racing this morning from St. Moritz couldn’t be any tighter. German Max Arndt was the last pilot down, but was also the quickest, just .05 ahead of Russian Alexander Zubkov. Zubkov’s time seemed to be dominating in a race where sleds are packed tight by hundredths of a second, but Arndt had a clean load and quick drive to take the lead going into heat 2.
Oskars Melbardis and his Latvian team is third on the strength of a track-record push. The drive lacked a bit, but was enough to stay just two hundredths ahead of defending world champion Steven Holcomb. Manuel Machata makes his 2013 World Championships debut in fifth, only .04 behind Holcomb.
It gets even tighter behind Holcomb and Machata, with Florschuetz, Friedrich, Hefti, kasjanov, Peter and Rush only separated by .06, it’s really anyone’s race going into the second heat.
Outside of the fantastic run by Steven Holcomb, the American teams have some work to do. Nick Cunningham sits 21st after his first run, while rookie Codie Bascue is 24th. It was slightly better for the Canadian teams, with Rush sitting 11th, but just a tenth out of fifth. Chris Spring is 17th and Justin Kripps 22nd to round out the Canadian field. John Jackson had a great first half of his run, but a couple slip-ups for the British pilot leaves him 13th after the first heat, while teammate Lamin Deen is 23rd.
Results after Heat 1:
| Pos | Pilot | Nation | Draw | Run 1 |
| 1 | Maximilian Arndt | GER | 34 | 65.21 |
| 2 | Alexander Zubkov | RUS | 32 | 65.26 |
| 3 | Oskars Melbardis | LAT | 31 | 65.53 |
| 4 | Steven Holcomb | USA | 28 | 65.55 |
| 5 | Manuel Machata | GER | 33 | 65.59 |
| 6 | Thomas Florschuetz | GER | 30 | 65.63 |
| 7 | Francesco Friedrich | GER | 13 | 65.64 |
| 8 | Beat Hefti | SUI | 26 | 65.65 |
| 9 | Alexander Kasjanov | RUS | 25 | 65.67 |
| 10 | Rico Peter | SUI | 19 | 65.68 |
| 11 | Lyndon Rush | CAN | 27 | 65.69 |
| 12 | Dmitry Abramovitch | RUS | 24 | 65.82 |
| 13 | John Jackson | GBR | 29 | 65.84 |
| 14 | Jan Vrba | CZE | 23 | 65.89 |
| 14 | Juergen Loacker | AUT | 21 | 65.89 |
| 16 | Oskars Kibermanis | LAT | 17 | 65.91 |
| 17 | Chris Spring | CAN | 16 | 66.00 |
| 18 | Simone Bertazzo | ITA | 18 | 66.03 |
| 19 | Dawid Kupczyk | POL | 12 | 66.09 |
| 20 | Edwin Van Calker | NED | 9 | 66.11 |
| 21 | Nick Cunningham | USA | 22 | 66.20 |
| 22 | Justin Kripps | CAN | 15 | 66.33 |
| 23 | Lamin Deen | GBR | 11 | 66.47 |
| 24 | Codie Bascue | USA | 20 | 66.56 |
| 25 | Milan Jagnesak | SVK | 14 | 66.60 |
| 26 | Loic Costerg | FRA | 7 | 66.67 |
| 27 | Vuk Radjenovic | SRB | 10 | 66.68 |
| 28 | Andreas Neagu | ROU | 3 | 66.80 |
| 29 | Michael Serise | BEL | 4 | 66.88 |
| 30 | Lukas Gschnitzer | ITA | 6 | 66.94 |
| 31 | Patrice Servelle | MON | 1 | 67.09 |
| 32 | Michael Klingler | LIE | 8 | 67.17 |
| 33 | Heath Spence | AUS | 5 | 67.27 |
| 34 | Ivan Sola | CRO | 2 | 67.72 |
