Skeleton Olympic champion Christopher Grotheer also reached the podium in his sixth World Cup start this winter. The Thuringian came second in St. Moritz.
He was 0.54 seconds behind winner Matt Weston from Great Britain. Weston, who leads the overall World Cup, set the fastest time twice and set a season record in the second round on the natural track in 1:07.22 minutes.
Two more Germans in the top six
Grotheer, who missed the World Cup in Sigulda in December due to an adductor injury, is currently third overall. He is still not in full possession of his strength, which can be seen from the start times. There he lost a total of 0.4 seconds to Weston. With Axel Jungk (4th) and Lukas Nydegger (6th), two other Germans were able to place in the top six.
Neise loses lead in the overall World Cup
The World Cup was less exciting for the German women. Hannah Neise ended up in 14th place – her worst result of the season so far. Nothing more was possible after she started the race in 17th place after the first round. Neise said after the race on the natural ice rink that she “absolutely not” be satisfied: “I actually drove quite well, at least in the second run. I slipped a lot in the first.”
The Austrian Janine Flock celebrated the victory (2:18.65 minutes). Flock replaced Neise as the leader in the classification. Second place went to the Belgian Kim Meylemans (+0.18 seconds), third place was Nicole Rocha from Brazil (+0.27 s). Jacqueline Pfeifer took sixth place as the best German starter (+0.95 s).
The other German starters Susanne Kreher (+1.25 s) and Corinna Leipold (+1.44 s) landed in tenth and twelfth place. The eighth and final World Cup race will take place on February 7th in Lillehammer, Norway. The World Championships will follow in March in Lake Placid/USA.
Mixed team: Neise and Grotheer not at the start
Neise and Grotheer were not at the start of the final mixed team, but Pfeifer and Jungk won together. Susanne Kreher and Nydegger came in seventh.