From Umhausen, AUT
(February 19, 2023) – Thomas Kammerlander has won a lot of races over his storied FIL Natural Track Luge career, and won one more on his way to retirement.
Kammerlander trailed Italy’s Patrick Pigneter by just .02 going into the final heat of the season, and the final heat of Kammerlander’s career. Michael Sheikl and world champion Alex Gruber were in the hunt for medals as well, in their own battle for bronze.
On the second run Gruber, who was also in the final run of his World Cup career, put down a strong final run to take the lead and held it as Scheikl fell behind him.
Kammerlander was next, and the Austrian nearly matched his first run time to easily put him into he lead by nearly a full second over Gruber.
Pigneter’s second run nearly matched Kammerlander’s for the bulk of the run, but Pigneter couldn’t quite find the speed at the bottom of the Umhausen course where Kammerlander had and fell behind by just .13 to give the Austrian the victory.
Kammerlander’s victory was his third in four races, while Pigneter’s silver was second singles medal in three events. Pigneter also won gold in Umhausen in men’s doubles.
Scheikl finished fourth, only .04 ahead of Italy’s Fabian Brunner in fifth. Daniel Gruber rounded out the top six.
The United States had three men in the field. Torrey Cookman finished 16th as the top American, two spots ahead of Zane Farnsworth in 18th. Jacob Sterk rounded out the American effort in 19th.
Kammerlander’s win clinched the World Cup title, 55 points ahead of Gruber in both of their final seasons. Scheikl finished the season in third.
The title for Kammerlander was the fifth of his career.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Thomas Kammerlander | AUT | 26 | 11.95 | 11.95 | 78.31 | 78.39 | 2:36.70 |
| 2 | Patrick Pigneter | ITA | 23 | 11.98 | 12.09 | 78.29 | 78.54 | 2:36.83 |
| 3 | Alex Gruber | ITA | 27 | 11.96 | 12.18 | 78.78 | 78.90 | 2:37.68 |
| 4 | Michael Scheikl | AUT | 25 | 12.03 | 12.07 | 78.50 | 79.52 | 2:38.02 |
| 5 | Fabian Brunner | ITA | 18 | 11.99 | 12.15 | 78.96 | 79.10 | 2:38.06 |
| 6 | Daniel Gruber | ITA | 12 | 12.08 | 12.17 | 78.94 | 79.58 | 2:38.52 |
| 7 | Florian Markt | AUT | 22 | 12.12 | 12.22 | 79.72 | 80.04 | 2:39.76 |
| 8 | Michael Brugger | AUT | 14 | 12.10 | 12.24 | 79.93 | 80.52 | 2:40.45 |
| 9 | Isa Guzeloglu | FIN | 1 | 12.24 | 12.49 | 80.51 | 80.96 | 2:41.47 |
| 10 | Vid Kralj | SLO | 16 | 12.40 | 12.37 | 80.72 | 80.77 | 2:41.49 |
| 11 | Bine Mekina | SLO | 21 | 12.34 | 12.33 | 81.10 | 80.84 | 2:41.94 |
| 12 | Ziga Kralj | SLO | 15 | 12.31 | 12.34 | 81.65 | 81.82 | 2:43.47 |
| 13 | David Rydl | CZE | 6 | 12.65 | 16.85 | 80.99 | 82.98 | 2:43.97 |
| 14 | Matevz Vertelj | SLO | 17 | 12.46 | 12.72 | 81.82 | 82.22 | 2:44.04 |
| 15 | Jerome Almer | SUI | 19 | 12.67 | 12.61 | 82.03 | 83.27 | 2:45.30 |
| 16 | Torrey Cookman | USA | 9 | 12.54 | 12.88 | 83.03 | 84.19 | 2:47.22 |
| 17 | Vincent Streit | GER | 5 | 12.77 | 13.02 | 83.74 | 83.64 | 2:47.38 |
| 18 | Zane Farnsworth | USA | 8 | 12.71 | 12.97 | 83.05 | 85.52 | 2:48.57 |
| 19 | Jacob Sterk | USA | 7 | 12.73 | 12.72 | 84.04 | 86.04 | 2:50.08 |
| 20 | Shohei Tanaka | SUI | 13 | 13.77 | 14.36 | 95.27 | 99.02 | 3:14.29 |
| 21 | Semyeong Kim | KOR | 4 | 13.73 | 14.44 | 97.70 | 98.41 | 3:16.11 |
