From Lillehammer, NOR
(December 1, 2022) – Latvia’s Kaspars Rinks became the first non-German to win gold in the 2022/2023 luge season as he beat out Germany’s Marco Leger in the season opening Junior World Cup men’s race.
The race was close after one heat, with Rinks behind Leger by just .013. In the second heat Rinks set the quick start of the heat, and matched it with what would be the quick downtime of the heat as well. Leger needed to match that run, and while he was close, Rinks put enough distance between he and the field to take gold by .056.
Austria’s Fabio Zauser finished third on the strength of the third quickest run in both heats. Zauser was the only other slider within a second of the winner.
Germany’s Hans Fritzsch finished fourth, with the United States’ Aiden Mueller in fifth and Germany’s Marcus Arnold in sixth.
The United States had a good run of it in Lillehammer for the men, with Marcus Mueller missing out on a top six by one position to finish seventh. Frank Ike finished 11th, up from 12th in the first heat, while Matt Greiner jumped up from 19th to 14th on the strength of a ninth quickest run in the second heat.
Americans Harris Hunter and Ansel Haugsjaa both crashed in their second runs and did not finish.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Kaspars Rinks | LAT | 2 | 4.443 | 4.444 | 49.822 | 49.888 | 1:49.710 |
| 2 | Marco Leger | GER | 5 | 4.486 | 4.472 | 49.809 | 49.957 | 1:39.766 |
| 3 | Fabio Zauser | AUT | 10 | 4.516 | 4.528 | 50.117 | 50.281 | 1:40.398 |
| 4 | Hans Fritzch | GER | 9 | 4.521 | 4.544 | 50.279 | 50.473 | 1:40.752 |
| 5 | Aiden Mueller | USA | 16 | 4.569 | 4.580 | 50.742 | 50.296 | 1:41.038 |
| 6 | Marcus Arnold | GER | 20 | 4.511 | 4.498 | 50.661 | 50.582 | 1:41.243 |
| 7 | Marcus Mueller | USA | 23 | 4.463 | 4.476 | 50.708 | 50.666 | 1:41.374 |
| 8 | Hanes Röder | GER | 21 | 4.461 | 4.460 | 50.238 | 51.812 | 1:42.050 |
| 9 | Ramus Moberg | SWE | 11 | 4.485 | 4.492 | 51.393 | 50.863 | 1:42.256 |
| 10 | Danyl Martsinovskyy | UKR | 12 | 4.483 | 4.503 | 51.074 | 51.271 | 1:42.345 |
| 11 | Frank Ike | USA | 18 | 4.512 | 4.515 | 51.347 | 51.309 | 1:42.656 |
| 12 | Roberst Dreimanis | LAT | 15 | 4.545 | 4.515 | 51.364 | 51.421 | 1:42.656 |
| 13 | Vratislav Varga | SVK | 7 | 4.612 | 4.607 | 51.349 | 51.664 | 1:43.013 |
| 14 | Matt Greiner | USA | 4 | 4.522 | 4.545 | 52.743 | 51.209 | 1:43.952 |
| 15 | Ola Brandstadmoen | NOR | 22 | 4.565 | 4.594 | 52.277 | 51.915 | 1:44.192 |
| 16 | Metod Majercak | SVK | 8 | 4.585 | 4.578 | 52.219 | 53.361 | 1:45.580 |
| 17 | Jakub Veprosky | CZE | 13 | 4.640 | 4.700 | 51.988 | 58.581 | 1:50.569 |
| DNF | Noah Kallen | AUT | 1 | 4.475 | 4.481 | 50.183 | DNF | |
| DNF | Harris Hunter | USA | 6 | 4.528 | 4.521 | 51.126 | DNF | |
| DNF | Ansel Haugsjaa | USA | 17 | 4.618 | 4.525 | 53.426 | DNF | |
| DNS | Grayson Laugher | AUS | 9 | DNS | ||||
| DNF | Kristian Bosman | SVK | 14 | 4.492 | DNF | |||
| DNF | Florian Tanzer | AUT | 3 | 4.426 | DNF |
