From Igls, AUT
(November 26, 2021) – History was made in Igls on the second stop of the IBSF World Cup, with a triple-gold atop the men’s skeleton podium.
The track in Austria always makes for tight racing, and after the first heat of the competition that hadn’t changed. Great Britain’s Matt Weston led by a miniscule .01 second advantage over China’s Wenqiang Geng, and by .07 over Germany’s Christopher Grotheer.
As the snow fell lightly over the track, Grotheer came down first among the medal contenders. His second heat run of 52.88 was the fastest of the competition and enough to put him into the lead with just Geng and Weston to go. Geng’s run was also quick, .06 off of Grotheer’s second run time and good enough to tie him with the German.
History was made with Matt Weston’s slide. A year prior, Weston had carried a lead into the second run in Igls, but missed the podium altogether after being edged by Martins Dukurs and a pair of Russian sliders. This time he made the lead stick, as his second run was fourth quickest, but quick enough to match the times set by Grotheer and Geng to tie them for gold.
It was the first ever three-way tie for gold in IBSF World Cup history.
The gold medals for Weston and Geng were their first in World Cup action, while Grotheer’s was his second.
South Korea’s Seunggi Jung’s second run gave him the fatest start and second fastest downtime of the competition to jump him up from sixth to a career-best fourth, .05 ahead of Germany’s Axel Jungk in fifth. Russia’s Nikitia Tregubov fell from fourth to sixth.
It was a strong showing for Great Britain. On top of Weston’s historic gold, Marcus Wyatt scored a top ten with a tenth place finish. Craig Thompson rounded out the British effort with a 17th place finish, up from 20th in the first heat.
Up until the tie for gold, the most surprising run of the day came from Alexander Gassner. He struggled to find speed on a track he’s traditionally done well on and missed the second heat after finishing 21st alongside Vladyslav Heraskevych. It was the only the second time he’d ever missed a cut in World Cup action, with the prior time being in Lake Placid in 2013.
For the second week in a row it was tough sliding for the North American men in Igls. The United States’ Austin Florian was the only slider of the group to make the second heat, but fell from 17th to 20th on his second run. Canada’s Mark Lynch couldn’t find speed on the Austrian track and finished 26th, one spot ahead of the United States’ John Daly in 27th. Daly was a last second addition to the start list having been medically cleared to slide only 20 minutes before the first heat.
Australia’s Dean Timmings finished 29th in his first World Cup start in four years.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Christopher Grotheer | GER | 12 | 5.00 | 4.94 | 53.16 | 52.88 | 1:46.04 |
| 1 | Wenqiang Geng | CHN | 15 | 5.04 | 4.94 | 53.10 | 52.94 | 1:46.04 |
| 1 | Matt Weston | GBR | 16 | 4.89 | 4.84 | 53.09 | 52.95 | 1:46.04 |
| 4 | Seunggi Jung | KOR | 11 | 4.87 | 4.81 | 53.24 | 52.94 | 1:46.18 |
| 5 | Axel Jungk | GER | 7 | 4.99 | 4.97 | 53.22 | 53.01 | 1:46.23 |
| 6 | Nikita Tregubov | RUS | 9 | 4.92 | 4.89 | 53.20 | 53.12 | 1:46.32 |
| 7 | Vladislav Semenov | RUS | 13 | 5.01 | 4.98 | 53.26 | 53.13 | 1:46.39 |
| 8 | Wengang Yan | CHN | 20 | 4.94 | 4.94 | 53.33 | 53.16 | 1:46.49 |
| 9 | Alexander Tretiakov | RUS | 4 | 4.94 | 4.87 | 53.46 | 53.05 | 1:46.51 |
| 10 | Marcus Wyatt | GBR | 17 | 4.89 | 4.89 | 53.29 | 53.26 | 1:46.55 |
| 11 | Martins Dukurs | LAT | 8 | 4.91 | 4.90 | 53.38 | 53.24 | 1:46.62 |
| 12 | Wenhao Chen | CHN | 22 | 4.87 | 4.85 | 53.27 | 53.37 | 1:46.64 |
| 13 | Sungbin Yun | KOR | 6 | 4.95 | 4.91 | 53.52 | 53.18 | 1:46.70 |
| 14 | Jisoo Kim | KOR | 10 | 4.88 | 4.86 | 53.57 | 53.25 | 1:46.82 |
| 15 | Mattia Gaspari | ITA | 21 | 5.01 | 5.01 | 53.49 | 53.35 | 1:46.84 |
| 16 | Samuel Maier | AUT | 14 | 5.13 | 5.15 | 53.53 | 53.43 | 1:46.96 |
| 17 | Craig Thompson | GBR | 1 | 4.94 | 4.87 | 53.67 | 53.34 | 1:47.01 |
| 18 | Tomass Dukurs | LAT | 19 | 5.05 | 5.00 | 53.64 | 53.38 | 1:47.02 |
| 19 | Amedeo Bagnis | ITA | 18 | 4.95 | 4.93 | 53.64 | 53.58 | 1:47.22 |
| 20 | Austin Florian | USA | 24 | 4.93 | 4.98 | 53.63 | 53.76 | 1:47.39 |
| 21 | Alexander Gassner | GER | 5 | 5.11 | 53.69 | |||
| 22 | Vladyslav Heraskevych | UKR | 23 | 5.11 | 53.69 | |||
| 23 | Florian Auer | AUT | 26 | 5.15 | 53.73 | |||
| 24 | Ronald Auderset | SUI | 3 | 5.03 | 53.82 | |||
| 25 | Basil Sieber | SUI | 27 | 5.17 | 53.94 | |||
| 26 | Mark Lynch | CAN | 25 | 5.16 | 54.02 | |||
| 27 | John Daly | USA | 29 | 5.11 | 54.44 | |||
| 28 | Mihail Enache | ROU | 2 | 5.15 | 54.53 | |||
| 29 | Dean Timmings | AUS | 28 | 5.26 | 54.95 |
