From Lake Placid, USA
(December 8, 2023) – Max Langenhan dominated the season opener in Lake Placid, winning by nearly a half of a second over a pair of Austrian sliders.
Langenhan opened up a lead of over .2 ahead of Jonas Müller, with The United States’ Tucker West lingering around in third place.
On the second run it was Nico Gleirscher who turned heads with a run that gave him the lead with only five sleds to go. GLeirscher then picked off Latvia’s Kristers Aparjods, Italy’s Dominik Fischnaller and then West to move into the medals with just two sleds to go.
Jonas Müller slid next, and had a clean and clear run that moved him into the lead and a guaranteed silver medal with just Langenhan to go.
Langenhan was just a bit faster on his second start than he was his first, and had a nearly flawless slide on his way to a .446 second victory over Müller, with Gleirscher third.
Despite the dominating victory, Langenhan was not confident going into the race.
“I had so many problems in the training runs, and I asked Felix [Loch] a lot of questions about the track because he has so many runs here,” Langenhan said of his race.
West finished the day in fourth, a good finish but disappointing for the track record holder.
“I think I’m frustrated at the end,” West said. “The speed was there, the starts were there, but it just came down to the start curve in both of those runs.”
West’s teammate, Jonny Gustafson, scored a career-best finish in fifth.
Chris Mazdzer, in his final World Cup race, finished 12th after entering the second heat in 13th. Teammate Hunter Harris finished 15th, up from 17th in the first heat.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Max Langenhan | GER | 21 | 6.375 | 6.369 | 50.944 | 51.008 | 1:41.952 |
| 2 | Jonas Müller | AUT | 23 | 6.320 | 6.376 | 50.164 | 51.234 | 1:42.398 |
| 3 | Nico Gleirscher | AUT | 17 | 6.378 | 6.397 | 51.270 | 51.315 | 1:42.585 |
| 4 | Tucker West | USA | 12 | 6.309 | 6.364 | 51.167 | 51.421 | 1:42.588 |
| 5 | Jonatan Gustafson | USA | 11 | 6.438 | 6.418 | 51.366 | 51.337 | 1:42.703 |
| 6 | Kristers Aparjods | LAT | 22 | 6.362 | 6.364 | 51.266 | 51.503 | 1:42.769 |
| 7 | Dominik Fischnaller | ITA | 25 | 6.377 | 6.432 | 51.255 | 51.604 | 1:42.859 |
| 8 | Felix Loch | GER | 24 | 6.339 | 6.379 | 51.521 | 51.480 | 1:43.001 |
| 9 | David Nößler | GER | 20 | 6.412 | 6.423 | 51.400 | 51.664 | 1:43.064 |
| 10 | Wolfgang Kindl | AUT | 26 | 6.439 | 6.519 | 51.707 | 51.383 | 1:43.090 |
| 11 | Alexander Ferlazzo | AUS | 10 | 6.352 | 6.353 | 51.381 | 51.869 | 1:43.250 |
| 12 | Chris Mazdzer | USA | 9 | 6.468 | 6.470 | 51.665 | 51.693 | 1:43.358 |
| 13 | Anton Dukach | UKR | 3 | 6.378 | 6.396 | 51.752 | 51.625 | 1:43.377 |
| 14 | David Glerischer | AUT | 15 | 6.440 | 6.469 | 51.620 | 51.993 | 1:43.613 |
| 15 | Hunter Harris | USA | 4 | 6.467 | 6.501 | 51.863 | 51.782 | 1:43.645 |
| 16 | Gints Berzins | LAT | 19 | 6.389 | 6.374 | 51.783 | 51.959 | 1:43.742 |
| 17 | Leon Felderer | ITA | 16 | 6.467 | 6.479 | 51.644 | 52.104 | 1:43.748 |
| 18 | Andriy Mandziy | UKR | 8 | 6.493 | 6.436 | 52.092 | 51.676 | 1:43.768 |
| 19 | Valentin Cretu | ROU | 5 | 6.450 | 6.438 | 52.001 | 51.939 | 1:43.940 |
| 20 | Jozef Ninis | SVK | 18 | 6.561 | 6.528 | 52.124 | 52.189 | 1:44.313 |
| 21 | Mateusz Sochowicz | POL | 7 | 6.377 | 6.406 | 52.305 | 52.057 | 1:44.362 |
| 22 | Alex Gufler | ITA | 6 | 6.429 | 6.453 | 52.055 | 52.460 | 1:44.515 |
| 23 | Seiya Kobayashi | JPN | 2 | 6.554 | 6.579 | 52.331 | 52.672 | 1:45.003 |
| 24 | Arkadiusz Trojga | POL | 14 | 6.626 | 6.612 | 53.097 | 53.590 | 1:46.687 |
| 25 | Eduard-Mihai Craciun | ROU | 13 | 6.482 | 6.488 | 52.956 | 54.345 | 1:47.301 |
| DNF | Marian Skupek | SVK | 1 | 6.485 | 6.491 | 52.117 | DNF |