From Beijing, CHN
(February 11, 2022) – Christopher Grotheer is the two-time defending men’s skeleton world champion, having won both of those gold medals on his home track. Half of a world away, Grotheer won his third straight four-heat race, taking the Olympic gold medal in the Olympic Winter Games.
Prior to the opening runs of the Olympic skeleton program it was anticipated that the race could be close, with Martins Dukurs, Alexander Tretiakov and others expected to hunt for gold alongside home track athlete Wengang Yan. However, it was Grotheer opening up a massive lead over the first two heats, taking a .7 lead over teammate Axel Jungk into the second day of sliding.
In the third heat Grotheer opened up the lead even further, .85 over his teammate, making the fourth and final run a glorified victory lap. That fourth run was his slowest of the race, and only the sixth quickest of the race, but his giant lead over Jungk entering the run was all he needed to secure his first ever Olympic gold medal.
The gold for Grotheer was also his third straight in four-heat races after winning gold in the previous two IBSF World Championships held in Altenberg.
“I think Altenberg is comparable in that small mistakes can have major effects,” Grotheer said on comparing his last few gold medals. “But the track is very different.”
Behind Grotheer, Jungk put himself in position for silver after his third run. He had entered the heat only .05 ahead of Yan. His third run was the fourth fastest of the race to that point and enough to put space between himself and the remainder of the field. His fourth run, while not enough to move him to the top of the podium, was enough to solidify an Olympic silver medal, his first.
The gold and silver for Germany were the nation’s first two ever in men’s skeleton. The win for Grotheer also kept Germany perfect in sliding sports during the 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
China’s Wengang Yan lingered around the podium all race, but fell out of the top three after three runs. On the fourth run he threw down a huge final effort to move up into the medals. His 1:00.15 was the second quickest run of the race and enough to put him onto the podium for China’s first ever sliding sport Olympic medal. His bronze medal is the first ever sliding sport Olympic medal and their first ever in a four-heat race. Earlier in the season Wenqiang Geng gave China its first ever World Cup gold medal as a part of the historic triple gold alongside Grotheer and Great Britain’s Matt Weston.
Yan’s final run was a flier, to which he credited his coaches.
“On the last run I made an adjustment,” he said. “My coach gave me a few things to adjust on my lines and I was able to make those changes.”
Yan’s medal came at the expense of Alexander Tretiakov. The Russian had a bumpy final run and while he was still quick he lacked the pace late to stay ahead of Yan.
Zheng Yin, put on the Chinese Olympic team ahead of higher ranked athletes in part due to his ability on his home track, relatively struggled over the first three runs. His fourth run was the third quickest of the entire competition to that point and was enough to move him from seventh out of the third heat to fifth.
ROC’s Evgeniy Rukosuev rounded out the top six. One spot behind him was Latvia’s Martins Dukurs. Dukurs, a favorite coming into the Olympics, found himself in six place going into the second day of sliding. His third run was enough to move him up to fifth and within distance of a potential podium. On his fourth run he went for broke but came up short, falling back to seventh place.
“In the third run I gave everything that I could and it was pretty nice,” Dukurs said of his penultimate run. “I saw the lines from the guys and understood I couldn’t make any mistakes in the fourth run. Unfortunately, I did.”
Great Britain couldn’t match the success it had with its Pyeongchang bronze medal by Dom Parsons. Matt Weston, a gold medalist earlier in the World Cup season in Igls, led the two-man squad in 15th place, one spot ahead of teammate Marcus Wyatt in 16th. Afterward, Wyatt said while the experience was great, the race left something to be desired.
“Such mixed emotions for me. It’s so amazing to be here representing my country,” he said of his Olympics. “But I can’t help that there was more in there somewhere. I don’t know where. It’s been a difficult season and a difficult couple of days. But overall it’s amazing to be here.”
Blake Enzie finished his first Olympic games in 20th place. The young Canadian lingered around the top 20 all weekend. His final run of 1:01.54 was his quickest over the four runs.
The United States’ Andrew Blaser finished one spot out of the top 20 in 21st. For him, the work that went into getting to the Olympics was more important than the outcome.
“It’s the journey getting here,” Blaser said. “ It’s not how you race when you’re here. For some people it is, for me it wasn’t.”
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | IBSF Rank | Run 1 | Run 2 | Run 3 | Run 4 | Total |
| 1 | Christopher Grotheer | GER | 4 | 3 | 60.00 | 60.33 | 60.16 | 60.52 | 4:01.01 |
| 2 | Axel Jungk | GER | 8 | 2 | 60.50 | 60.53 | 60.31 | 60.33 | 4:01.67 |
| 3 | Wengang Yan | CHN | 18 | 23 | 60.43 | 60.65 | 60.54 | 60.15 | 4:01.77 |
| 4 | Alexander Tretiakov | ROC | 5 | 4 | 60.36 | 60.84 | 60.37 | 60.42 | 4:01.99 |
| 5 | Zheng Yin | CHN | 21 | 29 | 60.74 | 60.71 | 60.40 | 60.28 | 4:02.13 |
| 6 | Evgeniy Rukosuev | ROC | 12 | 11 | 60.48 | 60.72 | 60.56 | 60.64 | 4:02.40 |
| 7 | Martins Dukurs | LAT | 7 | 1 | 60.62 | 60.62 | 60.40 | 61.12 | 4:02.76 |
| 8 | Alexander Gassner | GER | 13 | 6 | 60.87 | 60.86 | 60.62 | 60.48 | 4:02.83 |
| 9 | Tomass Dukurs | LAT | 6 | 8 | 60.76 | 60.79 | 60.74 | 60.92 | 4:03.21 |
| 10 | Seunggi Jung | KOR | 10 | 10 | 61.18 | 61.04 | 60.69 | 60.83 | 4:03.74 |
| 11 | Amedeo Bagnis | ITA | 16 | 16 | 61.05 | 61.19 | 60.83 | 61.01 | 4:04.08 |
| 12 | Sungbin Yun | KOR | 11 | 12 | 61.26 | 61.17 | 61.03 | 60.63 | 4:04.09 |
| 13 | Samuel Maier | AUT | 14 | 15 | 61.36 | 61.13 | 61.05 | 60.95 | 4:04.49 |
| 14 | Mattia Gaspari | ITA | 17 | 18 | 61.20 | 61.31 | 61.16 | 61.36 | 4:05.03 |
| 15 | Matt Weston | GBR | 9 | 9 | 61.34 | 61.15 | 61.12 | 61.63 | 4:05.24 |
| 16 | Macrus Wyatt | GBR | 19 | 21 | 61.56 | 61.72 | 61.28 | 61.35 | 4:05.91 |
| 17 | Alexander Schlintner | AUT | 20 | 24 | 61.56 | 61.73 | 61.66 | 61.24 | 4:06.19 |
| 18 | Vladyslav Heraskevych | UKR | 15 | 17 | 61.63 | 61.58 | 61.62 | 61.45 | 4:06.28 |
| 19 | Nathan Crumpton | ASA | 22 | 26 | 62.06 | 61.65 | 61.60 | 61.49 | 4:06.80 |
| 20 | Blake Enzie | CAN | 24 | 34 | 61.65 | 61.76 | 61.93 | 61.54 | 4:06.88 |
| 21 | Andrew Blaser | USA | 2 | 28 | 61.80 | 62.08 | 62.10 | 3:05.98 | |
| 22 | Basil Sieber | SUI | 25 | 51 | 61.95 | 62.16 | 62.72 | 3:06.83 | |
| 23 | Daniil Romanov | ROC | 3 | 25 | 62.47 | 62.60 | 62.20 | 3:07.27 | |
| 24 | Ander Mirambell | ESP | 1 | 37 | 62.45 | 63.36 | 62.34 | 3:08.15 | |
| 25 | Nicholas Timmings | AUS | 23 | 31 | 63.76 | 62.83 | 61.78 | 3:08.37 |
