From Lillehammer, NOR
(December 6, 2023) – Hans Peter Hannighofer won his second straight race of the Europe Cup four-man season, cruising to victory in Lillehammer.
In the first heat, Hannighofer opened up a .14 second lead over Nico Semmler, with teammate Alexander Czudaj back in third .23 out of the lead with all three German sleds ahead of Switzerland’s Timo Rohner in fourth.
On the second run Rohner bettered his first run time to take the lead from the Netherlands’ Dave Wesselink, a lead he held after Czudaj made an early mistake that set him back behind Rohner and teammate Laurin Zern.
After Nico Semmler took the lead despite a run that was a tenth slower than Rohner’s, it was Hannighofer’s turn to try to hold serve.
The German pilot once again set the quick time of the heat, ending up with the quickest run in both heats, on his way to a .44 second victory over Semmler.
Rohner took bronze, with Zern, Czudaj, and Wesselink rounding out the top six.
Great Britain put two sleds in the top ten. Adam Baird finished ninth, one spot ahead of John Stanbridge in tenth. Stanbridge finished tied with Trinidad and Tobago’s Axel Brown for the tenth spot, with both athletes having moved up into a tie for tenth from 11th and 12th, respectively.
After three races on the Europe Cup four-man schedule, Hannighofer leads Semmler by ten points, with Czudaj 14 points behind Semmler in third. Rohner and Zern are fourth and fifth.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Finish |
| 1 | Hannighofer / Kornhardt / Bosse / Gessenhardt | GER | 13 | 5.08 | 5.10 | 50.63 | 50.72 | 1:41.35 |
| 2 | Semmler / Sauerbrei / Dahms / Neumann | GER | 6 | 5.15 | 5.15 | 50.77 | 51.02 | 1:41.79 |
| 3 | Rohner / Matthys / Novakovic / Hersperger | SUI | 8 | 5.22 | 5.21 | 50.93 | 50.92 | 1:41.85 |
| 4 | Zern / Proske / Schaller / Mausch | GER | 12 | 5.18 | 5.16 | 50.99 | 50.94 | 1:41.93 |
| 5 | Czudaj / Schenk / Wenzel / Vogel | GER | 9 | 5.17 | 5.20 | 50.86 | 51.08 | 1:41.94 |
| 6 | Wesselink / Franjic / Franjic / Huis In ‘T Veld | NED | 5 | 5.14 | 5.09 | 50.99 | 51.11 | 1:42.10 |
| 7 | Mandlbauer / Wiener / Hanschitz / Nichols-Bardi | AUT | 4 | 5.29 | 5.23 | 51.25 | 51.10 | 1:42.35 |
| 8 | Kaiser / Seifert / Volgger / Zech | AUT | 11 | 5.35 | 5.30 | 51.43 | 51.47 | 1:42.90 |
| 9 | Baird / Williams / Cartagena / Greenwood | GBR | 7 | 5.18 | 5.17 | 51.52 | 51.42 | 1:42.94 |
| 10 | Stanbridge / Hullah / Riekstins / Dixon | GBR | 1 | 5.40 | 5.39 | 51.83 | 51.88 | 1:43.71 |
| 10 | Brown / King / Williams / John | TTO | 3 | 5.47 | 5.43 | 51.85 | 51.86 | 1:43.71 |
| 12 | Behounek / Petrikovic / Prochazka / Vila | CZE | 10 | 5.25 | 5.24 | 51.88 | 51.89 | 1:43.77 |
| 13 | Boron / Sienkiewicz / Boinski / Buba | POL | 2 | 5.43 | 5.38 | 52.00 | 51.89 | 1:43.89 |
| 14 | Nica / Asurdoaie / Oleinic / Dinca | ROU | 15 | 5.40 | 5.41 | 52.31 | 52.21 | 1:42.52 |
| 15 | Baechler / Flaven / Alais / Vanderschaeghe | FRA | 18 | 5.53 | 5.52 | 52.18 | 52.38 | 1:44.56 |
| 16 | Turea / Dobre / Cordos / Dumitrache | ROU | 16 | 5.61 | 5.60 | 52.31 | 52.27 | 1:44.58 |
| 17 | Verginer / Pagnini / Storti / Cresatto | ITA | 14 | 5.33 | 5.32 | 51.81 | 53.08 | 1:44.89 |
| 18 | Gazmuri-Olivares / Aanensen / Waler Aslaksby / Hommefoss Sletten | NOR | 17 | 5.59 | 5.58 | 52.48 | 54.12 | 1:46.60 |
