Wyatt a whisker away
Marcus Wyatt came within a whisker of a second World Cup medal as he finished fifth in the Men’s Skeleton in Germany on Friday.
Wyatt missed a podium place by just six hundredths of a second in a hugely competitive race in Konigssee.
The former American Footballer was tied for bronze at the halfway mark before eventually finishing just behind Russia’s Alexander Tretiakov and Germany’s Axel Jungk in the race for third.
Wyatt clocked a combined time of 1 minute 40.07 seconds after registering the fastest start in Run 2 and the third quickest in Run 1 as World Championship bronze medalist Alexander Gassner took gold from Olympic Champion Sungbin Yun.
A medal in the penultimate World Cup race of the season would have been a third for the men’s team this term after bronze for Wyatt in Sigulda and silver for Matt Weston in Igls before Christmas.
Weston finished 10th this time around on just his second event appearance in Konigssee. The 23-year-old was a hundredth of a second from ninth spot as he continued his impressive run of form in his first full season of World Cup racing.
An England Youth international in taekwondo, Weston won Europa Cup gold in Altenberg last week after sitting out the World Cup competition in Winterberg. He now has four top ten finishes in five World Cup races this season and can again add the scalp of legendary Latvian Martins Dukurs to his record after the reigning World Cup king came 11th after a disappointing second run.
Fellow Brit Craig Thompson, who produced the second fastest start time in Run 1 and the fourth fastest in Run 2, was equal 16th in a time of 1.41.69.
In the women’s race, Brogan Crowley secured a first World Cup top ten as she finished ninth in just her fifth appearance on the top tier.
Crowley smashed her previous personal best of 14th set in Igls in December as she continues her improvement in 2020/21. The 26-year-old former heptathlete has had injury issues to contend with but has bettered her previous result every time she has competed on the World Cup circuit since her debut in Sigulda last season.
Crowley clocked a time of 1 minute 43.59 seconds, eventually finishing just seven hundredths of a second outside the top six.
Olympic bronze medalist Laura Deas finished 13th on one of her least favoured tracks despite recording the eighth best time in Run 2. Deas clocked 1 minute 43.75 seconds, with fellow Brit Madelaine Smith 15th in 1.44.15.
Olympic silver medalist Jacqueline Loelling took gold ahead of Anna Fernstaedt and World Cup points leader Janine Flock to ensure a fifth German victory in a row at Konigssee since GB’s double Olympic Champ Lizzy Yarnold triumphed back in 2015.
Bobsleigh takes over in Konigssee for Saturday and Sunday, with GB crews competing in the women’s monobob, women’s bobsleigh and the 2-man and 4-man competitions, but there is more skeleton action tomorrow courtesy of the World Junior Championships in St Moritz where Laurence Bostock and Ashleigh Pittaway compete for GB.
The next instalment of World Cup skeleton action comes a week today in Igls for what will be the final event of the eight-race circuit.
