Lamin Deen finishes second for first podium finish, Nico Walther takes third

Whistler (RWH): Defending title holder Alexander Kasjanov of Russia has celebrated his first win of the season at the third stop in the 2017/2018 BMW IBSF World Cup in Whistler (CAN). With his squad of brakemen – Ilvir Khuzin, Vasiliy Kondratenko and Aleksei Pushkarev – Kasjanov pushed Lamin Deen/Ben Simons/Tony Olubi/Andrew Matthews (GBR, 0.28 seconds back) into second place. After securing a very narrow lead in the first run, Deen went on to get his first ever World Cup podium finish.

The new track record for Whistler Sliding Centre (50.66 seconds) also went to Lamin Deen and his team. The old record was set by Steven Holcomb/Justin Olsen/Steve Mesler/Curtis Tomasevicz (USA) in their Olympic win in February 2010.

Nico Walther/Kevin Kuske/Kevin Korona/Eric Franke (GER, 0.48 seconds back) finished third in Whistler.

Loic Costerg/Vincent Ricard/Vincent Castell/Dorian Hauterville of France celebrated their best World Cup result to date in sixth place. Just 0.05 seconds separated the French squad from a place in the top three.

In the overall standings for the BMW IBSF World Cup 2017/2018, Johannes Lochner (GER, 601 points) managed to defend his lead in the overall standings by finishing fifth in Whistler. He currently leads his team mate Nico Walther (GER, 577) and Justin Kripps (CAN, 562), who finished fourth in Whistler. ©RWH2017

Full results: http://www.ibsf.org/en/component/events/event/169460 
Ranking: http://www.ibsf.org/en/rankings/rankings?season=2017&ctype=2&session=WC 

Photos. IBSF/Viesturs Lacis