From Winterleiten, AUT
(Dec. 17, 2020) – Austria’s Michael Scheikl kicked off the FIL Natural Track World Cup season with style, cruising to victory on home ice in Winterleiten.
The Austrian, wearing last season’s World Cup Leader bib because teammate Thomas Kammerlander sat out with a positive COVID test, was the fastest off the top and had the quick time at every split on his way to a 1.32 second victory over teammate Christian Schopf.
For Scheikl the win was his second straight in Winterleiten, while for Schopf the silver was his first podium finish since the 2014/2015 season, also in Winterleiten.
Patrick Pigneter picked up right where he left off last season in men’s singles with another podium in third. In the 2019/2020 season he never finished worse than third.
Italy’s Alex Gruber and Florian Clara each moved up a spot in the second heat to finish fourth and fifth respectively, while their teammate Stefan Federer finished sixth.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Michael Scheikl | AUT | 24 | 8.41 | 8.45 | 60.83 | 61.00 | 2:01.83 |
| 2 | Christian Schopf | AUT | 21 | 8.47 | 8.57 | 61.20 | 61.95 | 2:03.15 |
| 3 | Patrick Pigneter | ITA | 23 | 8.63 | 8.67 | 61.46 | 61.82 | 2:03.28 |
| 4 | Alex Gruber | ITA | 22 | 8.62 | 8.60 | 62.01 | 61.77 | 2:03.78 |
| 5 | Florian Clara | ITA | 20 | 8.59 | 8.69 | 62.03 | 61.92 | 2:03.95 |
| 6 | Stefan Federer | ITA | 19 | 8.48 | 8.63 | 61.81 | 62.37 | 2:04.18 |
| 7 | Fabian Achenrainer | AUT | 17 | 8.60 | 8.65 | 62.24 | 62.10 | 2:04.34 |
| 8 | Oliver Schiller | GER | 18 | 8.92 | 8.99 | 63.05 | 63.71 | 2:06.76 |
| 9 | Blaz Mekina | SLO | 6 | 9.14 | 9.05 | 64.65 | 64.28 | 2:08.93 |
| 10 | Simon Achenrainer | AUT | 1 | 9.45 | 9.07 | 64.52 | 64.99 | 2:09.51 |
| 11 | Bine Mekina | SLO | 8 | 8.97 | 9.04 | 65.00 | 65.08 | 2:10.08 |
| 12 | Ivan Lenko | UKR | 14 | 9.30 | 9.21 | 65.12 | 65.16 | 2:10.28 |
| 13 | Jerome Almer | SUI | 10 | 9.06 | 9.08 | 65.45 | 65.20 | 2:10.65 |
| 14 | Myroslav Lenko | UKR | 12 | 8.78 | 8.75 | 64.45 | 66.72 | 2:11.17 |
| 15 | Tomas Hasek | CZE | 11 | 9.27 | 9.28 | 66.06 | 65.92 | 2:11.98 |
| 16 | Szymon Majdak | POL | 13 | 9.09 | 9.24 | 66.31 | 66.70 | 2:13.01 |
| 17 | Matevz Verteij | SLO | 7 | 9.35 | 9.29 | 67.11 | 66.22 | 2:13.33 |
| 18 | David Rydl | CZE | 15 | 9.54 | 9.56 | 66.96 | 66.80 | 2:13.76 |
| 19 | Sylwester Jadwiszczok | POL | 4 | 9.32 | 9.17 | 68.91 | 71.01 | 2:19.92 |
| 20 | Kacper Adamski | POL | 2 | 9.65 | 9.71 | 74.19 | 71.81 | 2:26.00 |
