|
| Event type

Skeleton, Men

Date14 – 15 February 2014
StatusOlympic
LocationTsentr Sannogo Sporta Sanki, Mountain Cluster, Rzhanaya Polyana
Participants27 from 16 countries
FormatFour runs, total time determined placement. Top 20 after three runs qualified for final run.
DetailsCurves: 17
Length: 1500 m
Start Altitude: 837 m
Vertical Drop: 125.5 m

On any other track multiple World Cup winner Martins Dukurs of Latvia would have been an overwhelming favourite to improve on his silver medal performance in Vancouver and win his nation’s first Winter Olympic gold medal. Since the Vancouver Olympics his record had been unmatched in any winter sport as he had won 28 of the 36 World Cup and World Championship race. However he was not the reigning world champion, that honour held by Aleksandr Tretyakov, and it was thought that the Russian’s home track knowledge might be a major factor in Sochi. Other contenders for the medals were Tomass Dukurs, elder brother to Martin, and American Matt Antoine.

It quickly became apparent that Martins Dukurs and Tretyakov were competing at a completely different level to the rest of the field but also that the Russian team’s intensive preparation on the track was yielding fine results. Tretyakov was over a quarter of a second faster than his rival on three of his four runs and the small margin the Latvian gained on the other run was insignificant to the final result.

With gold and silver long decided the attention turned to which of five sliders would take the bronze medal? John Daly appeared to be in prime position before the final run but his sled slipped out of the slider track on the push phase and his chances were instantly ruined. It was a fellow American who benefitted from Daly’s misfortune as Matt Antoine won his nation’s first medal in this event since 2002.

In May 2016 WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) commissioned a report, the McLaren Report, to look into allegations of systematic Russian doping and a cover-up to avoid positives at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. The report was released in two parts, in July and December 2016, and confirmed the allegations. In 2017 the IOC formed a commission to investigate this, headed by IOC Member Denis Oswald, and usually referred to as the Oswald Commission. In late October 2017 the Oswald Commission began to release its findings.

On 22 November 2017 the gold medalist in this event, Aleksandr Tretyakov was disqualified based on findings from the Oswald Commission. Tretyakov immediately appealed this ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), and about 10 days before the PyeongChang Winter Olympics began, the CAS reached a decision and Tretyakov was exonerated and his gold medal was restored.

PosCompetitorNOCTimeRun #1Run #2Run #3Run #4
1Aleksandr TretyakovRUS3:44.2955.95 (1)56.04 (1)56.28 (2)56.02 (1)Gold1
2Martins DukursLAT3:45.1056.18 (2)56.37 (2)56.26 (1)56.29 (2)Silver
3Matt AntoineUSA3:47.2656.89 (3)56.95 (=5)56.69 (4)56.73 (6)Bronze
4Tomass DukursLAT3:47.5857.03 (6)57.06 (12)56.75 (5)56.74 (=7)
5Sergey ChudinovRUS3:47.5956.98 (5)57.04 (11)56.86 (6)56.71 (5)2
6Nikita TregubovRUS3:47.6257.44 (13)56.96 (7)56.57 (3)56.65 (3)
7John FairbairnCAN3:48.1357.34 (11)56.92 (4)56.91 (7)56.96 (=10)
8Kristan BromleyGBR3:48.1757.24 (10)57.02 (=9)57.17 (12)56.74 (=7)
9Alexander KröckelGER3:48.2957.21 (8)57.36 (17)57.03 (10)56.69 (4)
10Dom ParsonsGBR3:48.3657.23 (9)57.17 (15)57.00 (9)56.96 (=10)
11Frank RommelGER3:48.4757.19 (7)56.95 (=5)57.33 (15)57.00 (13)
12Hiroatsu TakahashiJPN3:48.7457.53 (14)57.10 (13)57.13 (11)56.98 (12)
13Eric NeilsonCAN3:48.7757.41 (12)57.01 (7)57.25 (14)57.10 (14)
14Matthias GuggenbergerAUT3:49.0057.70 (17)57.12 (14)57.24 (13)56.94 (9)
15John DalyUSA3:49.1156.91 (4)56.67 (3)56.99 (8)58.54 (20)
16Yun Seong-BinKOR3:49.5757.54 (15)57.02 (=9)57.90 (20)57.11 (15)
17John FarrowAUS3:50.6757.84 (19)57.73 (19)57.75 (16)57.35 (16)
18Maurizio OioliITA3:50.6857.69 (16)57.27 (16)57.85 (19)57.87 (19)
19Raphael MaierAUT3:50.8657.83 (18)57.51 (18)57.95 (22)57.57 (17)
20Ben SandfordNZL3:51.2158.00 (22)57.75 (20)57.79 (18)57.67 (18)
21Kyle TressUSA2:53.7457.85 (20)58.13 (23)57.76 (17)
22Yuki SasaharaJPN2:54.2058.22 (24)58.07 (21)57.91 (21)
23Alexandros KefalasGRE2:54.7558.20 (23)58.33 (24)58.22 (=23)
24Lee Han-SinKOR2:55.1758.41 (25)58.12 (22)58.64 (25)
25Dorin VelicuROU2:56.0758.72 (27)58.44 (25)58.91 (27)
26Ander MirambellESP2:56.1058.58 (26)58.72 (26)58.80 (26)
27Sean GreenwoodIRL3:01.3257.99 (21)1:05.11 (27)58.22 (=23)