Geng Wenqiang made a historic breakthrough for China by bagging a bronze in the men's skeleton at the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) World Cup in La Plagne, France on Friday.

This was the first-ever podium finish for Team China in this event and came two years before the nation hosts the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Earlier, the 24-year-old was the 16th to start and after two runs he finished in joint third place, along with 2018 Olympic champion, Yun Sung-bin of South Korea. Both athletes completed the race 1.39 seconds after the winner, Alexander Tretiakov from Russia, who finished his first run in 59.28 seconds, half a second faster than the previous track record holder Martins Dukurs from Latvia.

The Latvian came in second by 0.37 seconds behind. Another Chinese athlete Yan Wengang came 15th with 2.35 seconds behind.

After his historic podium finish, Geng said: "I have not competed on this track before, and today I did my best. I did not think too much while sliding on the track and just focused on the event itself. The result surprised me and I feel really excited."

Geng's previous best World Cup result was a seventh-place showing on November 10, 2017 at Lake Placid, New York.

Since then, he has taken part in 13 races till Friday and his average finish was ranking 17th. Incidentally, no other Chinese slider has won a medal at the World Cup level in bobsled, skeleton or luge, even though the country has won many medals on lower circuits in recent years.

In women's competition, Elena Nikitina of Russia won with one minute and 1.35 seconds in heat two, 1.5 seconds faster than the old track records. Nikitinina secured a 0.65-second lead over Austrian Janine Flock in second place, Jacqueline Loelling of Germany finished third.

China's Lin Huiyang ranked 19th, in two minutes and 5.99 seconds.

(With input from Xinhua)