Heavy snowfall led to the cancellation of the second run in the men's skeleton event at the BMW IBSF World Cup in Winterberg . The race jury determined that results for the fourth race of the season will stand after the completion of the first run.
Sungbin Yun of South Korea remains the athlete to beat in this season’s BMW IBSF World Cup. The bronze medallist from the 2016 World Championships celebrated his third win in succession.
Following the first run, Yun held a 0.06 - second lead ahead of World Champion and defending World Cup holder Martins Dukurs of Latvia. Dave Greszczyszyn of Canada finished in a surprise third place. The athlete, who finished tenth in the 2017 World Championships, had previously secured his best result in January 2016 when he finished fifth in Whistler (CAN). At the race in Winterberg, however, he finished 0.26 seconds behind the winner to celebrate his first ever World Cup podium finish.
Vladislav Marchenkov of Russia also secured his best ever result, finishing eighth.
Speaking after the race Yun said “I really wanted this to happen and I also wanted the second heat. But race is race. It’s my first win here so I am very happy. Normally, the Germans are so strong here”.
The majority of the athletes and coaches agreed with the race jury’s decision as heavy snow continued to fall.
The men’s race was reduced to just one run as the weather worsened prior to the scheduled start of the second heat.
That left Dom Parsons placing ninth as Sungbin Yun stopped Martins Dukurs’ remarkable run of victories on the Winterberg track dating back to the 2008/09 season. Dukurs took silver behind the South Korean World Cup points leader, with Canada’s Dave Greszczyszyn winning a first-ever World Cup medal in third.
The weather in Winterberg is known for the speed at which it changes and those changes once again had a significant effect on a British slider long before the eventual cancellation of the second run.
From a starting position of third in Run 1, Jack Thomas suffered the worst of the conditions, with commentators describing it as a ‘white out’. Like Yarnold, he was met with heavy snow and blizzard like conditions at the top of the track, posting a time of 59.19 seconds before the snow cleared quickly for the sliders who followed.
Jerry Rice would also have missed out on a second run as he clocked 58.48 seconds to finish in 29th, four spots ahead of Thomas.
Sungbin Yun (885 points) continues to lead the overall standings at the halfway point of the 2017/2018 BMW IBSF World Cup season followed by Martins Dukurs (LAT, 821) and Tomass Dukurs (LAT, 752).