From Sigulda, LAT
(December 13, 2021) – Evgeniy Rukosuev finished off a strong showing by the Russian skeleton program in Sigulda, cruising to victory in Latvia.
The race was initially close, with Rukosuev holding a mere .06 second advantage over China’s Zheng Yin. On the second run Yin faltered, as he slipped up on the start and never fully g0t settled. He had only the eighth quickest run of the heat and fell behind Germany’s Felix Keisinger.
That left the door wide open for Rukosuev, who once again had the quickest time of the run to win by .9 over Germany’s Felix Keisinger. Yin finished third, .01 behind Keisinger.
Felix Seibel of Germany finished out of the medals in fourth, ahead of Daniil Romanov in fifth. Great Britain’s Ben Fulker rounded out the top six.
The gold for Rukosuev was his third ICC gold of the season, and gave him an over 100 point advantage over Lukas Nydegger in the season points. Felix Seibel and Felix Keisinger round out the top four in points.
Canada’s Blake Enzie and Evan Neufeldt had a strong showing in Sigulda, with both men well into the top ten. Enzie finished eighth, and Neufeldt ninth. Enzie’s second run was the fourth fastest of the heat and jumped him up from 13th to eighth, while NEufeldt went from 12th to ninth.
Andrew Blaser led the way for the United States with a 15th place finish. Daniel Barefoot finished 18th, while Stephen Garbett finished 21st.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Finish |
| 1 | Evgeniy Rukosuev | RUS | 7 | 4.60 | 4.57 | 50.65 | 50.94 | 1:41.59 |
| 2 | Felix Keisinger | GER | 4 | 4.59 | 4.60 | 51.06 | 51.43 | 1:42.49 |
| 3 | Zheng Yin | CHN | 10 | 4.49 | 4.73 | 50.71 | 51.79 | 1:42.50 |
| 4 | Felix Seibel | GER | 6 | 4.84 | 4.78 | 51.24 | 51.41 | 1:42.65 |
| 5 | Daniil Romanov | RUS | 5 | 4.57 | 4.55 | 51.40 | 51.63 | 1:43.03 |
| 6 | Ben Fulker | GBR | 11 | 4.75 | 4.80 | 51.50 | 51.86 | 1:43.36 |
| 7 | Lukas Nydegger | GER | 12 | 4.92 | 4.91 | 51.71 | 51.68 | 1:43.39 |
| 8 | Blake Enzie | CAN | 16 | 4.74 | 4.76 | 51.83 | 51.63 | 1:43.46 |
| 9 | Evan Neufeldt | CAN | 21 | 4.79 | 4.79 | 51.79 | 51.77 | 1:43.56 |
| 10 | Nathan Crumpton | ASA | 8 | 4.73 | 4.72 | 51.71 | 51.90 | 1:43.61 |
| 11 | Laurence Bostock | GBR | 20 | 4.62 | 4.70 | 51.66 | 52.03 | 1:43.69 |
| 12 | Manuel Schwärzer | ITA | 14 | 4.74 | 4.78 | 51.83 | 51.87 | 1:43.70 |
| 13 | Lucas Defayet | FRA | 2 | 4.84 | 4.85 | 51.59 | 52.32 | 1:43.91 |
| 14 | Vladislav Marchenkov | RUS | 15 | 4.79 | 4.83 | 51.90 | 52.06 | 1:43.96 |
| 15 | Andrew Blaser | USA | 9 | 4.76 | 4.76 | 51.93 | 52.05 | 1:43.98 |
| 16 | Haifeng Zhu | CHN | 17 | 4.69 | 4.78 | 52.16 | 51.87 | 1:44.03 |
| 17 | Samuel Keiser | SUI | 22 | 4.92 | 4.94 | 51.95 | 52.23 | 1:44.18 |
| 18 | Daniel Barefoot | USA | 18 | 4.80 | 4.81 | 51.76 | 52.59 | 1:44.35 |
| 19 | Rasmus Johansen | DEN | 3 | 4.93 | 4.90 | 52.17 | 52.95 | 1:45.12 |
| 20 | Jean Jacques Buff | SUI | 1 | 5.03 | 5.09 | 52.34 | 52.95 | 1:45.12 |
| 21 | Stephan Garbett | USA | 19 | 4.96 | 52.49 | |||
| 22 | Alexander Schlintner | AUT | 13 | 4.77 | 53.14 | |||
| 23 | Elliot Brown | AUS | 23 | 5.21 | 53.50 |
