In the men’s skeleton, world champions Christopher Grotheer, Axel Jungk and local hero wanted to achieve a top result in Winterberg on Friday (January 7th, 22nd). After the first run, however, the trio was not on course for the podium. But then the cards were reshuffled or the ice channel swept in accordance with the rules in the second round.
Too little swept – first run invalid
After the first round, Gassner was the best German skeleton in eighth place. Already 0.48 seconds behind the leader Alexander Tretyakov (RUS). Axel Jungk (+0.54) and world champion Christopher Grotheer were in eleventh place at the same time.
Shortly before the start of the final round, however, the first one was canceled. The organizers only started clearing the track after the ninth starter. The German team’s objection was granted and the run was declared invalid. “The first one deleted“So it was time to concentrate again,” said Gassner about the decision to cancel the run.
Jungk takes the chance for a place on the podium
In the final run, the German trio was able to improve significantly and get involved in the front. Jungk got through better at the second start of the day, with a not entirely flawless drive he was second fastest behind Martins Dukurs (56.360 Sec.) on the podium.
He is only a hundredth of a second behind the Latvians at the finish. “Of course I’m upset that it’s a hundredth,” said Jungk about the missed record. However, he was “happy” about the jury’s decision not to evaluate the first run. Gassner (+0.16) also made it through the ice channel significantly better and in fourth just barely missed his first podium of the season. Third was the Russian Alexander Tretyakov.
Grotheer wants to work on constancy
Things didn’t go quite as well for Grotheer, who was faster at the start, but on the track he not only had to admit defeat to his team-mates. “At the start I was able to add something to it“, said Grotheer. The 29-year-old was not satisfied with the middle section. Before Beijing he had to”work on constancy again.“With 0.30 seconds behind it was only enough for ninth place. In addition, he lost the lead in the overall World Cup standings to Dukurs.
Status: 07.01.2022, 12:50 p.m.