Krewson and Jeskanen were in the lead after the first heat with a time of 48.106 seconds. In their second heat however, they were slightly slower at 48.268. With two fast, consistent runs, the tandem had a great opportunity to win the gold medal. The team of Hannes Orlamuender and Paul Gubitz of Germany approached the start handles in fourth place after their first heat with a time of 48.731 which was 0.625 behind Krewson and Jeskanen. In their second and final heat, Orlamuender and Gubitz put together the best time of the day and overcame Krewson and Jeskanen. Their second heat time of 47.576 was 0.600 seconds better than Krewson and Jeskanen’s first heat-leading time.
The blistering final heat by Orlamuender and Gubitz gave them a final time of 1 minute, 36.307 seconds which was just 0.067 seconds ahead of the American team. Joining Orlamuender and Gubitz and Krewson and Jeskanen on the podium was the Russian team of Danil Lebedev and Evgeny Permjakov in third place, taking the bronze medal with a total time of 1:36.967.
In the Youth A Men’s race, American Jonny Gustafson (ninth) raced to a second consecutive top 10 finish, while Latvia’s Kristers Aparjods earned a spot on the podium for the second time in as many weeks. Aparjods took the silver last week in Sigulda, Latvia, and went one better this week to claim gold.Gustafson of Massena, N.Y., put together heats of 52.013 and 51.987 to give him a total time of 1:44.000. Gustafson’s total time was 1.370 seconds behind Aparjods’ winning time of 1:42.630. On a day when most sliders were getting slower in their second heat, Gustafson sat in 13th place in a field of 45 sleds after his first heat and was able to better his time by 0.026 seconds which was enough to boost him into ninth place to secure a second top 10 finish in a row.
Two German sliders, Markus Schwab (silver) and Markus Hummer (bronze), were able to join Aparjods on the podium. The margin between Aparjods and Hummer was just 0.098 seconds.Rounding out the Youth A races were Gracie Weinberg of Middlebury, Vt. and Hannah Miller of Rome, N.Y. In a field of 32 sleds, Weinberg was able to finish in 11th place with times of 48.423 and 48.496 for a total time of 1:36.919. She finished 2.176 seconds behind Victoria Hufnagl, who was one of three German sliders that swept the podium spots. Miller put together heats of 49.001 and 48.919 which was 2.176 seconds behind her teammate and 3.177 seconds behind Hufnagl. Miller finished in 17th place.
Joining Hufnagl on the podium were Svenja Oestricher (silver) and Julia Orlamunder (bronze) to sweep the medals for Germany.
Raychel Germaine of Roswell, Georgia, finished in 11th place in the Junior Women’s race on Sunday. After finishing 14th last week in Sigulda, Germaine was able to improve on last week’s performance and was 0.214 seconds from finishing in the top 10. Germaine concluded with times of 53.135 and 53.313 for a total time of 1:46.448. Caroline von Schleinitz of Germany captured the gold medal. von Schleinitz finished 0.300 seconds ahead of fellow German Julia Taubitz, who took silver in the competition. Viktoria Demchenko of Russia, whose father Albert will represent the country at the Sochi Winter Games, rounded out the top three by finishing 0.573 seconds behind von Schleinitz.
In the Junior Men’s race, American Riley Stohr finished in 15th place. Stohr of Whitehall, Mich., put together heats of 51.929 and 51.416 for a total of 1:43.345. In a race where the top six competitors were separated by less than one second, Austria’s Armin Frauscher was able to claim gold. Frauscher’s time of 1:38.568 was 0.252 seconds ahead of Toni Graffe of Germany, who captured second place. Roman Repilov of Russia, took the last spot on the podium by winning the bronze medal.The United States Junior National Team will be back in action on January 24-25 for their final World Cup event in Oberhof, Germany. It will be their final preparation prior to the Junior World Championships in Igls, Austria on Jan. 31-Feb. 1. The U.S. team will be bolstered in that event by the return of three Olympians to the junior ranks, namely Tucker West, Aidan Kelly and Summer Britcher.