From Altenberg, GER
Feb. 27, 2020 – Christopher Grotheer will go into the overnight break of the 2020 men’s skeleton World Championships, leading a German one-two-three.
Grotheer, the 2019/2020 Intercontinental Cup champion, came into the race as the only German men’s skeleton athlete to win World Cup gold in Altenberg since Michi Halilovic in the 2009/2010 season. He broke the track record in his second run of the World Championships on his way to a .09 lead over teammate Alexander Gassner. He sits .35 seconds ahead of Axel Jungk.
Jungk, the only other German to medal at the World Cup level in Altenberg in the past four years, came into the second heat as the leader, .02 ahead of Grotheer, but couldn’t match the speed of his teammate.
Latvian Martins Dukurs is the top non-German, currently .17 out of the medals and .52 out of gold medal position. Dukurs will need a big second day of sliding if he wants to add to his streak of four consecutive World Championship victories.
Olympic champion Sungbin Yun is fifth after two runs, well behind Dukurs, but just .09 ahead of junior world champion Felix Keisinger in sixth.
Matt Weston made a big jump in the second heat to 12th from 16th position after the first run. In the second heat he leapfrogged teammate Marcus Wyatt, who currently sits one position back in 13th. Craig Thompson set the fast start time in the first heat and backed it up with an equally quick second start on his way to an 18th place showing after two runs.
The North American men will all need some help if they want to see a fourth heat on Friday. Andrew Blaser led the way for the United States in 22nd place, .28 out of 20th place. Teammate Austin Florian struggled on his second run and is .17 behind Blaser with one run to go before the cut.
Canadian Dave Greszczyszyn found he was on the World Championships squad for Canada two days before he needed to be in Altenberg. Through a surprise crowdfunding effort from friends and teammates, Greszczyszyn managed to raise all of the money needed to get him to Altenberg in time. He currently sits 23rd, two positions ahead of teammate Kevin Boyer.
Ander Mirambell, the 2019/2020 North American Cup champion, pulled a hamstring in his first run and could not start in the second heat.
The third heat of the men’s skeleton competition will take place at 7:00 AM Eastern on Friday, with the final heat set to start at 9:00 AM.
Results After 2 Heats:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Christopher Grotheer | GER | 19 | 5.05 | 5.00 | 56.17 | 55.86 | 1:52.03 |
| 2 | Alexander Gassner | GER | 8 | 5.08 | 5.04 | 56.21 | 55.91 | 1:52.12 |
| 3 | Axel Jungk | GER | 9 | 4.99 | 4.96 | 56.15 | 56.23 | 1:52.38 |
| 4 | Martins Dukurs | LAT | 4 | 4.93 | 4.91 | 56.30 | 56.25 | 1:52.55 |
| 5 | Sungbin Yun | KOR | 7 | 4.95 | 4.98 | 56.47 | 56.45 | 1:52.92 |
| 6 | Felix Keisinger | GER | 6 | 4.94 | 4.93 | 56.66 | 56.35 | 1:53.01 |
| 7 | Tomass Dukurs | LAT | 10 | 5.14 | 5.08 | 56.75 | 56.34 | 1:53.09 |
| 8 | Alexander Tretiakov | RUS | 5 | 4.92 | 4.90 | 57.00 | 56.31 | 1:53.31 |
| 9 | Nikita Tregubov | RUS | 13 | 5.09 | 5.06 | 56.90 | 56.49 | 1:53.39 |
| 10 | Jisoo Kim | KOR | 12 | 5.00 | 5.01 | 56.93 | 56.76 | 1:53.69 |
| 11 | Wengang Yan | CHN | 17 | 5.08 | 5.08 | 56.64 | 57.07 | 1:53.71 |
| 12 | Matt Weston | GBR | 29 | 5.05 | 5.07 | 57.26 | 56.66 | 1:53.92 |
| 13 | Marcus Wyatt | GBR | 11 | 4.94 | 4.98 | 57.03 | 56.91 | 1:53.94 |
| 14 | Evgeniy Rukosuev | RUS | 16 | 5.14 | 5.15 | 56.91 | 57.13 | 1:54.04 |
| 15 | Florian Auer | AUT | 25 | 5.24 | 5.22 | 57.32 | 56.74 | 1:54.06 |
| 16 | Seunggi Jung | KOR | 15 | 4.97 | 4.98 | 57.31 | 57.01 | 1:54.32 |
| 17 | Vladyslav Heraskevych | UKR | 18 | 5.23 | 5.20 | 57.25 | 57.12 | 1:54.37 |
| 18 | Craig Thompson | GBR | 20 | 4.92 | 4.92 | 57.53 | 57.10 | 1:54.63 |
| 19 | Samuel Maier | AUT | 23 | 5.26 | 5.22 | 57.40 | 57.39 | 1:54.79 |
| 20 | Wenqiang Geng | CHN | 14 | 5.18 | 5.15 | 57.18 | 57.66 | 1:54.84 |
| 21 | Nathan Crumpton | ASA | 26 | 5.14 | 5.12 | 57.93 | 57.05 | 1:54.98 |
| 22 | Andrew Blaser | USA | 30 | 5.17 | 5.25 | 57.54 | 57.58 | 1:55.12 |
| 23 | Dave Greszczyszyn | CAN | 1 | 5.32 | 5.25 | 57.74 | 57.49 | 1:55.23 |
| 24 | Austin Florian | USA | 24 | 5.04 | 5.10 | 57.58 | 57.71 | 1:55.29 |
| 25 | Kevin Boyer | CAN | 2 | 5.14 | 5.16 | 57.79 | 57.67 | 1:55.46 |
| 26 | Mattia Gaspari | ITA | 27 | 5.23 | 5.26 | 57.78 | 57.90 | 1:55.68 |
| 27 | Wenhao Chen | CHN | 22 | 5.06 | 5.09 | 58.45 | 57.66 | 1:56.11 |
| 28 | Mihail Enache | ROU | 3 | 5.14 | 5.14 | 58.56 | 57.94 | 1:56.50 |
| 29 | Samuel Keiser | SUI | 28 | 5.28 | 5.26 | 58.59 | 58.63 | 1:57.22 |
| 30 | Basil Seiber | SUI | 31 | 5.43 | 5.44 | 59.11 | 58.42 | 1:57.53 |
| 31 | Amedeo Bagnis | ITA | 21 | 5.05 | 5.11 | 60.04 | 58.25 | 1:58.29 |
| DNS | Ander Mirambell | ESP | 32 | 5.47 | 58.25 | DNS |
