15.02 Russia’s Tretiakov Snatches Gold in Men’s Skeleton at Olympics

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia, February 15 (R-Sport) – Alexander Tretiakov won Russia its first ever Olympic gold in any sliding sport when he won the men’s skeleton at the Sochi Olympics on Saturday.

Tretiakov won by 0.81 seconds, a large margin in skeleton, from Latvia’s Martins Dukurs, who took silver for the second Olympics in a row. Tretiakov’s gold is Russia’s fourth of its home Olympics and the second of the day after a win for Viktor Ahn in short-track speedskating.

Matthew Antoine of the United States took the bronze, a full 2.16 seconds off Dukurs.

There was heartbreak for US slider John Daly, who had been just four-hundredths of a second off Antoine before the final run. Daly’s sled slipped out of its starting groove as he pushed it and he was lucky to hold on, but lost a large amount of time and dropped to 15th.

Lizzy Yarnold of Britain won the women’s competition Friday, ahead of Noelle Pikus-Pace of the US and Russia's Elena Nikitina.