From Winterberg, GER
(February 17, 2023) – Romania’s Mihai Tentea came from behind to beat out Germany’s Nico Semmler for the final gold medal of the 2022/2023 IBSF European Cup two-man season.
Tentea trailed Semmler by .02 after a tight first heat that saw the top three separated by just .11. On the second run Laurin Zern struggled to match his first run pace, and while he took the lead with Tentea and Semmler to go, he effectively slid himself out of gold medal contention.
Tentea was next, and on a slowing track he and Nicolae Daroczi set both the quick start and quick downtime of the heat to move into the lead with just Semmler to go. Semmler and brakeman Max Neumann started just .04 off of the Romanians’ time off the top, but couldn’t match the slide that Tentea put down. Semmler’s drive was the fourth quickest of the heat and not enough to beat out Tentea, as Tentea took gold, and Semmler silver.
The gold for Tentea was his first podium of the 2022/2023 season and second ever victory on the European Cup circuit.
Semmler’s silver medal was his second in a row and third medal in as many races.
Zern took bronze, just ahead of Poland’s Aleksy Boron, who finished a career-best fourth. Swiss pilot Timo Rohner and Korean Jinsu Kim rounded out the top six.
USA’s Geoff Gadbois finished in tenth, while Lichtenstein’s Martin Kranz finished the event in 12th and Canada’s Pat Norton in 15th.
Semmler’s silver was enough to give him the season title after Max Illmann did not start. Germany swept the overall points with Adam Ammour in third despite missing the last three races of the season.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Finish |
| 1 | Tentea / aroczi | ROU | 9 | 5.24 | 5.25 | 57.31 | 57.77 | 1:55.08 |
| 2 | Semmler / Neumann | GER | 4 | 5.31 | 5.29 | 57.29 | 57.99 | 1:55.28 |
| 3 | Zern / | GER | 7 | 5.31 | 5.39 | 57.40 | 58.20 | 1:55.60 |
| 4 | Boron / Sienkiewicz | POL | 13 | 5.35 | 5.32 | 57.81 | 57.97 | 1:55.78 |
| 5 | Rohner / Hersperger | SUI | 6 | 5.30 | 5.34 | 57.60 | 58.30 | 1:55.90 |
| 6 | Kim / Chun | KOR | 5 | 5.27 | 5.35 | 57.59 | 58.55 | 1:56.14 |
| 7 | Vain / Prevost | MON | 12 | 5.41 | 5.31 | 58.25 | 58.12 | 1:56.37 |
| 8 | Variola / Batti | ITA | 8 | 5.31 | 5.25 | 57.97 | 58.51 | 1:56.48 |
| 8 | Mandlbauer / Nichols-Bardi | AUT | 14 | 5.35 | 5.37 | 58.21 | 58.27 | 1:56.48 |
| 10 | Gadbois / Vissering | USA | 11 | 5.41 | 5.40 | 58.18 | 58.42 | 1:56.60 |
| 11 | Czudaj / Wenzel | GER | 23 | 5.31 | 5.30 | 58.80 | 57.91 | 1:56.71 |
| 12 | Kranz / Bertschler | LIE | 1 | 5.52 | 5.51 | 58.12 | 58.62 | 1:56.74 |
| 13 | Prochazka / Petrikovic | CZE | 2 | 5.34 | 5.33 | 58.07 | 58.75 | 1:56.82 |
| 14 | Nica / Calancea | ROU | 3 | 5.52 | 5.56 | 58.21 | 58.70 | 1:56.91 |
| 15 | Norton / Ashley | CAN | 10 | 5.40 | 5.50 | 58.40 | 58.83 | 1:57.23 |
| 16 | Sun / Wei | CHN | 22 | 5.59 | 5.39 | 59.18 | 58.16 | 1:57.34 |
| 17 | Hanssen Faure / Kake | GER | 21 | 5.36 | 5.35 | 58.80 | 58.64 | 1:57.44 |
| 18 | Kaiser / Hanschitz | AUT | 16 | 5.39 | 5.41 | 59.05 | 58.45 | 1:57.50 |
| 19 | Gazmuri-Olivares / Kongssund | NOR | 19 | 5.69 | 5.66 | 59.27 | 58.77 | 1:58.04 |
| 20 | Sobczyk / Sosna | POL | 15 | 5.39 | 5.46 | 59.27 | 59.06 | 1:58.33 |
| 21 | Turea / Cordos | ROU | 18 | 5.51 | 59.35 | |||
| 22 | Wesselink / Pals | NED | 17 | 5.47 | 60.11 | |||
| 23 | Dinca / Tudorache | ROU | 20 | 5.75 | 60.71 |
