From Lillehammer, NOR
(November 11, 2022) – Italy’s Mattia Gaspari edged out a strong field of men’s skeleton sliders on his way to his first career international men’s skeleton gold medal.
Gaspari entered the second heat of the opening Intercontinental Cup race in Lillehammer in fifth place, .38 behind Germany’s Felix Siebel, and with Alexander Gassner and others between him and gold.
On a substantially slower track for the second run, Gaspari set the quick time of the heat and held the spot as four more sliders came down the 1994 Olympic track, eventually holding on for a gold medal, his first ever in ICC competition.
Gassner finished second, only .04 back after setting the third quickest run of the second heat. Great Britain’s Jacob Salisbury edged out China’s Haifeng Zhu for bronze by .02.
Zhu finished fourth, ahead of Felix Seibel and Great Britain’s Craig Thompson, who finished fifth and sixth respectively.
The top five finished all within a quarter of a second.
The United States’ Daniel Barefoot finished eighth in his first ever race in Lillehammer, tied with Basil Sieber of Switzerland. Hunter Williams finished 13th on the second American sled.
Jean Jacques Buff, sliding now for Liechtenstein, finished 16th.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Finish |
| 1 | Mattia Gaspari | ITA | 12 | 4.89 | 4.85 | 52.53 | 54.10 | 1:46.63 |
| 2 | Alexander Gassner | GER | 10 | 4.82 | 4.85 | 52.32 | 54.35 | 1:46.67 |
| 3 | Jacob Salisbury | GBR | 15 | 4.68 | 4.69 | 52.32 | 54.45 | 1:46.77 |
| 4 | Haifeng Zhu | CHN | 9 | 4.76 | 4.78 | 52.47 | 54.32 | 1:46.79 |
| 5 | Felix Siebel | GER | 4 | 4.91 | 4.91 | 52.15 | 54.71 | 1:46.86 |
| 6 | Craig Thompson | GBR | 8 | 4.74 | 4.77 | 52.71 | 54.86 | 1:47.57 |
| 7 | Samule Maier | AUT | 7 | 4.92 | 4.95 | 53.02 | 54.57 | 1:47.59 |
| 8 | Basil Sieber | SUI | 5 | 4.92 | 4.93 | 52.82 | 54.78 | 1:47.60 |
| 8 | Daniel Barefoot | USA | 13 | 4.83 | 4.83 | 53.01 | 54.59 | 1:47.60 |
| 10 | Livio Summermatter | SUI | 19 | 4.72 | 4.75 | 53.28 | 54.59 | 1:47.87 |
| 11 | Rasmus Johansen | DEN | 14 | 4.86 | 4.88 | 53.12 | 54.80 | 1:47.92 |
| 12 | Lucas Defayet | FRA | 11 | 4.97 | 4.94 | 53.28 | 54.67 | 1:47.95 |
| 13 | Hunter Williams | USA | 1 | 4.94 | 4.92 | 53.22 | 55.19 | 1:48.41 |
| 14 | Colin Freeling | BEL | 3 | 5.12 | 5.08 | 53.56 | 55.50 | 1:49.06 |
| 15 | Timon Drahonovsky | CZE | 18 | 5.05 | 5.00 | 53.87 | 55.45 | 1:49.32 |
| 16 | Jean Jacques Buff | LIE | 6 | 5.12 | 5.15 | 55.22 | 54.55 | 1:49.77 |
| 17 | Jeff Bauer | LUX | 16 | 5.18 | 5.24 | 54.40 | 55.42 | 1:49.82 |
| 18 | Vladyslav Polyvach | POL | 17 | 4.97 | 5.06 | 54.49 | 55.36 | 1:49.85 |
| 19 | Adrian Rodriguez | ESP | 20 | 4.92 | 4.96 | 54.82 | 55.52 | 1:50.34 |
| 20 | Varoslav Lavreniuk | UKR | 2 | 5.17 | 5.15 | 54.75 | 55.76 | 1:50.51 |
