Gruber Wins Natural Track World Championship in Deutschnofen

February 12, 2023 ken Luge News, News 0

From Deutschnofen, ITA

(February 12, 2023) – Alex Gruber came from behind in the FIL World Championships on Natural Track to win gold in Deutschnofen.

Gruber came to the third heat and final heat only .05 out of the lead, trailing both teammate Patrick Pigneter and Michael Scheikl. On the third and final heat Gruber set the quick time of the heat to move into the lead.

Gruber’s time would hold as neither Sheikl nor Pigneter could match it. At the end of the race Gruber found himself the winner, .31 ahead of Scheikl and .32 ahead of Thomas Kammerlander.

Alex Gruber (Courtesy FIL/Miriam Jennewein)

Patrick PIgneter’s third run was rough, and the Italian fell out of the medals to fourth place.

The world championship for Gruber was his third in four years. In the previous championship in 2021, Gruber finished behind Kammerlander and won silver.

Italians took the immediate three spots behind the medal winners, with Pigneter in third, ahead of Fabian Brunner and Florian Clara, who finished fifth and sixth respectively.

All three Americans in the field made the third and final run. Torrey Cookman finished 17th, while Jacob Sterk finished 21st and Zane Farnsworth 23rd.

Results:

Pos Name Nation Bib Run 1 Run 2 Run 3 Total
1 Alex Gruber ITA 28 54.55 54.75 54.68 2:43.98
2 Michael Scheikl AUT 30 54.75 54.52 55.02 2:44.29
3 Thomas Kammerlander AUT 29 54.73 54.69 54.88 2:44.30
4 Patrick Pigneter ITA 34 54.44 54.81 55.17 2:44.42
5 Fabian Brunner ITA 24 55.08 54.89 54.90 2:44.87
6 Florian Clara ITA 33 54.97 54.97 54.97 2:44.91
7 Stefan Federer SUI 22 55.38 55.44 55.72 2:56.54
8 Florian Markt AUT 31 56.05 56.15 56.24 2:48.44
9 Miguel Brugger AUT 27 57.01 56.59 56.64 2:50.24
10 Ziga Kralj SLO 25 56.37 56.67 57.22 2:50.26
11 Lukas Mark AUT 10 56.92 56.87 56.77 2:50.56
12 Bine Mekina SLO 32 57.05 57.39 57.44 2:51.88
13 Vid Kralj SLO 26 57.49 57.72 57.57 2:52.78
14 Jerome Almer SUI 21 57.44 58.12 58.13 2:53.69
15 Matevz Vertelj SLO 23 58.26 58.13 58.50 2:54.89
16 Gabriel Halcin SVK 12 58.77 59.09 58.73 2:56.59
17 Torrey Cookman USA 11 60.03 59.11 58.91 2:58.05
18 Vincent Streit GER 19 59.94 59.52 59.30 2:58.76
19 David Rydl CZE 18 59.88 60.16 60.41 3:00.45
20 Tomas Hasek CZE 3 60.35 60.84 61.14 3:02.33
21 Jacob Sterk USA 13 61.49 60.50 60.64 3:02.63
22 Samuel Halcin SVK 5 60.81 61.30 61.34 3:03.45
23 Zane Farnsworth USA 7 61.33 61.56 60.79 3:03.68
24 Dominik Neupauer SVK 4 63.41 61.30 62.49 3:07.20
25 Shohei Tanaka SUI 20 64.13 64.80 64.37 3:13.30
26 Viorel Andrei Deac ROU 16 65.36 64.60 2:09.96
27 Semyeong Kim KOR 9 71.16 67.80 2:18.96
28 Nikolas Dawidowski POL 2 76.68 74.60 2:31.28
29 Konrad Plonka POL 8 77.50 76.41 2:33.91
30 Seungmin Lee KOR 17 76.53 81.41 2:37.94
DNS Silvio Ionut Strugari ROU 1 DNS
DNF Isa Guzeloglu FIN 14 DNF