From Winterberg, GER
(Jan. 4, 2019) – Dennis Pihale has had a strong start to his 2018/2019 IBSF European Cup season, finishing on the podium in both races in Königssee with two silver medals. In Winterberg, he got to the top of the podium.
Pihale was the quickest in the first heat, just ahead of teammates Richard Oelsner and Hans Peter Hannigofer, with only a .04 advantage over Oelsner. On the second run, it was Germany’s Christoph Hafer with the fast time of the heat and Oelsner with the second quickest run. Pihale’s run was third quickest, only a hundredth behind Oelsner, but enough to take gold.
Oelsner finished second, just .03 behind Pihale, and just a tenth ahead of Hafer, who moved up to third on the strength of his second heat.
Hannighofer finished fourth, only .07 out of the medals, while Dmitriy Popov finished fifth. Simon Friedli and Rostislav Gaitiukevich tied for sixth.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Pihale / Frytz | GER | 5.48 | 5.42 | 57.16 | 57.05 | 1:54.21 |
| 2 | Oelsner / Ammour | GER | 5.46 | 5.35 | 57.20 | 57.04 | 1:54.24 |
| 3 | Hafer / Hammers | GER | 5.54 | 5.41 | 57.32 | 57.02 | 1:54.34 |
| 4 | Hannighofer / Bruckert | GER | 5.44 | 5.44 | 57.29 | 57.13 | 1:54.42 |
| 5 | Popov / Gnezdilov | RUS | 5.62 | 5.51 | 57.41 | 57.26 | 1:54.67 |
| 6 | Friedli / Jones | SUI | 5.41 | 5.37 | 57.32 | 57.38 | 1:54.70 |
| 6 | Gaitukevich / Tarasov | RUS | 5.41 | 5.41 | 57.32 | 57.38 | 1:54.70 |
| 8 | Moulinier / Tanner | SUI | 5.49 | 5.41 | 57.39 | 57.35 | 1:54.74 |
| 9 | Tentea / Daroczi | ROU | 5.51 | 5.53 | 57.30 | 57.45 | 1:54.75 |
| 10 | Stano / Kaminski | POL | 5.50 | 5.47 | 57.35 | 57.46 | 1:54.81 |
| 11 | Suk / Jang | KOR | 5.54 | 5.43 | 57.64 | 57.24 | 1:54.88 |
| 12 | Kuonen / Dörig | SUi | 5.48 | 5.33 | 57.71 | 57.40 | 1:55.11 |
| 13 | Follador / Crotta | SUI | 5.56 | 5.62 | 57.49 | 57.63 | 1:55.12 |
| 14 | Shinohara / Murakami | JPN | 5.60 | 5.54 | 57.54 | 57.82 | 1:55.36 |
| 15 | Babris / Nemme | LAT | 5.51 | 5.42 | 57.96 | 57.74 | 1:55.70 |
| 16 | Baumgartner / Atchori Essoh | ITA | 5.56 | 5.59 | 57.84 | 58.03 | 1:55.87 |
| 17 | Kaufmanis / Kaufmanis | LAT | 5.45 | 5.41 | 58.10 | 57.96 | 1:56.06 |
| 18 | Geiger / Pichler | AUT | 5.68 | 5.71 | 58.28 | 58.28 | 1:56.56 |
| 19 | Sasaki / Homma | JPN | 5.45 | 5.47 | 58.26 | 58.48 | 1:56.64 |
| 20 | Taborsky / Kozienka | SVK | 5.69 | 5.79 | 58.59 | 59.11 | 1:57.70 |
| 21 | Ughi / Boni | ITA | 5.69 | 58.60 | |||
| 22 | Variola / Fierro | ITA | 5.69 | 59.11 | |||
| 23 | Dobes / Dobes | CZE | 5.90 | 59.49 | |||
| 24 | Takahashi / Kaneko | JPN | 5.50 | 59.53 | |||
| 25 | Jordan / Podstata | CZE | 5.76 | 59.69 |
