Dukurs Wins 60th Gold in One-Heat Race in Winterberg

From Winterberg, GER

(January 7, 2022) – One week after being edged out for gold by his brother after popping a groove at the top, Martins Dukurs won gold in Winterberg in a one-heat race after a protest following the first heat.

The first heat of the race was run, and Alexander Tretiakov was the leader with the Dukurs brothers tied behind him in second place. Throughout the race, though, the snow fell and there didn’t appear to be any sweeping protocol being followed. Following the first heat a protest was made and the decision was made to scrap the first heat altogether and make the race a one-heat race.

In that one heat that counted, Axel Jungk had the quick time early from the fourth starting spot in the second run after sitting 11th in the now-canceled first run. Two sleds later it was Martins Dukurs’ turn. The Latvian was .13 quicker off the top, but didn’t quite carry the speed that Jungk had. At the line, though, Dukurs found himself .01 ahead of the German and into the lead.

Nobody got near either Dukurs or Jungk until Alexander Tretiakov came down from the 11th starting spot. He had the quick start of the heat, but fell just behind Dukurs and Jungk in third.

That’s how the medals would end up, with Dukurs edging out Jungk by .01 for gold, while Tretiakov finished with a bronze medal, .05 out of gold in third.

The World Cup gold medal was the 60th for Dukurs, and his ninth in Winterberg.

Alexander Gassner finished the race in fourth, 05 ahead of Tomass Dukurs in fifth, while Sungbin Yun finished sixth. Yun was 16th after the canceled first heat.

Andrew Blaser finished 22nd to lead the way for the United States. In the thrown out first heat, Austin Florian finished 18th, but on his second run from the 29th and final starting spot he was unable to find that pace again and finished 24th.

It was a forgettable race for the Canadian men. Blake Enzie finished 27th after having his 22nd place run thrown out with everyone else’s first runs. Evan Neufeldt finished 28th.

Great Britain put all three of their sliders in the top 20, with Laurence Bostock leading the way in 17th. Ben Fulker and Craig Thompson finished 18th and 19th respectively.

With one race left to go in the IBSF World Cup season, Martins Dukurs now leads Axel Jungk by 39 points, while Christopher Grotheer sits third, 51 points out.

Results: Times in italics were from 1st heat and did not count

Pos	Name	Nation	Bib	Start 1	Start 2	Run 1	Run 2
1	Martins Dukurs	LAT	6	4.93	4.87	57.56	56.36
2	Axel Jungk	GER	4	5.06	4.98	57.84	56.37
3	Alexander Tretiakov	RUS	11	4.89	4.86	57.30	56.41
4	Alexander Gassner	GER	9	5.08	4.99	57.78	56.52
5	Tomass Dukurs	LAT	10	5.01	4.96	57.56	56.57
6	Sungbin Yun	KOR	15	4.95	4.86	57.88	56.60
7	Nikita Tregubov	RUS	12	5.00	4.94	57.64	56.62
7	Vladislav Semenov	RUS	13	5.07	4.96	57.63	56.62
9	Christohper Grotheer	GER	7	5.03	5.94	57.84	56.66
10	Wenqiang Geng	CHN	5	5.06	5.03	57.85	56.77
11	Seunggi Jung	KOR	8	4.98	4.87	58.41	56.88
12	Wengang Yan	CHN	19	4.97	4.93	57.58	56.90
13	Amedeo Bagnis	ITA	18	4.92	4.89	57.68	56.91
14	Jisoo Kim	KOR	16	4.89	4.81	57.81	56.96
15	Mattia Gaspari	ITA	20	5.06	5.09	57.89	57.18
16	Samuel Maier	AUT	14	5.19	5.21	58.09	57.19
17	Laurence Bostock	GBR	1	4.95	4.99	58.75	57.20
18	Ben Fulker	GBR	23	5.14	5.08	57.85	57.22
19	Craig Thompson	GBR	26	4.89	4.89	57.97	57.34
20	Ronald Auderset	SUI	25	4.95	4.98	57.79	57.40
21	Jean Jacques Buff	SUI	2	5.34	5.27	58.27	57.43
22	Andrew Blaser	USA	22	5.11	5.05	58.38	57.51
23	Alexander Schlintner	AUT	21	5.09	5.09	58.46	57.53
24	Austin Florian	USA	29	4.95	4.97	57.96	57.66
25	Vladyslav Heraskevych	UKR	17	5.13	5.18	57.86	57.67
26	Ander Mirambell	ESP	3	5.39	5.43	58.80	57.71
27	Blake Enzie	CAN	24	5.07	5.06	58.30	57.72
28	Evan Neufeldt	CAN	27	5.07	5.07	58.67	57.79
29	Rin Kinoshita	JPN	28	4.89	4.93	58.64	58.26