Junior World Champion Keisinger achieves first World Cup podium finish
Lake Placid (RWH): The battle for World Cup victory came down to a few hundredths of a second: Defending title holder Alexander Tretiakov of Russia and World Champion Martins Dukurs of Latvia delivered an exceptionally nail-biting finish to the BMW IBSF World Cup race in Lake Placid. At the end of the two heats, defending title holder Tretiakov narrowly secured the victory by just 0.04 seconds. During the first heat, the 2014 Olympic Champion set a new track record (52.87 seconds). World Champion Dukurs finished second in Lake Placid.
Third place went to the Junior World Champion Felix Keisinger of Germany (0.42 seconds back). Although this marks the 21-year-old's first ever World Cup podium finish, his success did not come as a surprise. At the World Cup season opener – which was also held in Lake Placid – Keisinger gave an indication of his potential: at the end of the first heat, he beat the field of elite athletes to the top spot before going on to finish in fifth.
Tomass Dukurs of Latvia managed an impressive recovery at the World Cup race in Lake Placid: During the first heat, the 2016 European Champion slipped at the start but managed to secure the best time for the second run, taking him from 16th place to fifth.
After the second of eight races this season, Alexander Tretiakov (RUS, 425 points) has taken over the top spot in the overall standings for the 2019/2020 BMW IBSF World Cup. Martins Dukurs (LAT, 420) is currently in second ahead of the winner of the opening race Axel Jungk (GER, 417), who only just missed out on the podium this time around in Lake Placid in fourth place.
Further information, the World Cup results and the latest overall standings are available at ibsf.org. ©RWH2019
