From Winterberg, GER
(January 7, 2024) – It appears as though only injury can stop Max Langenhan at this point. The German stayed perfect on the 2023/2024 season with another victory, this time in Winterberg.
Langenhan had a challenger this week in Dominik Fischnaller, with the Italian only .004 behind Langenhan after the first heat, with Austria’s Jonas Müller and Wolfgang Kindl behind in third and fourth respectively.
In the second heat it was Kristers Aparjods who made the big jump onto the podium. The Latvian put down a clean second run to take the lead ahead of Felix Loch, then held at as both Kindl and Müller failed to match his pace.
Fischnaller, the defending World Cup champion, fell behind Aparjods early in his run but found speed in the final uphill portion of the track to take the lead by just .006 over Aparjods for his first podium of the season with a finish that could be no worse than silver.
The final slider of the race was Langenhan. As he’d done all season, Langenhan paired a competitive start with a smooth slide to win by .176 for his fourth straight victory to start the season and eighth straight on the World Cup circuit.
Langenhan’s only defeats in the past two seasons have been in a 2022/2023, once in a Nation’s Cup race then in World Championships in Oberhof.
Fischnaller finished with a silver medal, his first of the season. Latvia’s Kristers Aparjods’s second run was clean through the labyrinth, and despite a small skid it was enough to move him up from fifth in the first heat onto the podium with a bronze.
Felix Loch’s second run would have been enough to be the leader after the first heat. , and that was enough to move him from seventh in the first heat to fourth, .065 out of the medals.
Austria’s Wolfgang Kindl fell from fourth in the first heat to fifth, but was the race’s stop Austrian on a track that Austria had slid very well on all weekend.
The United States continued a decent weekend in Winterberg with one athlete in the top ten. Jonny Gustafson had a pair of clean runs to finish tenth. Teammate Tucker West had the two quickest starts of the competition on his way to a 14th finish, up from 16th in the first heat.
Matt Greiner made his World Cup debut for the United States in Winterberg as the third American slider in the field. He put down a pair of clean and quick runs for an 18th place finish.
Canada’s Dylan Morse finished 25th, up from 27th in the first heat.
After three World Cup races plus one Sprint World Cup, Max Langenhan is the obvious leader with a perfect 400 points. Behind him, Jonas Müller is 120 points back in second, with Dominik Fischnaller and Nico Gleirscher currently tied for third. Kristers Aparjods is just six points behind them in fifth.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Max Langenhan | GER | 29 | 3.865 | 3.847 | 51.885 | 51.810 | 1:43.695 |
| 2 | Dominik Fischnaller | ITA | 28 | 3.838 | 3.826 | 51.889 | 51.982 | 1:43.871 |
| 3 | Kristers Aparjods | LAT | 30 | 3.835 | 3.846 | 51.999 | 51.878 | 1:43.877 |
| 4 | Felix Loch | GER | 22 | 3.833 | 3.829 | 52.095 | 51.847 | 1:43.942 |
| 5 | Wolfgang Kindl | AUT | 26 | 3.879 | 3.894 | 51.974 | 51.978 | 1:43.952 |
| 6 | Jonas Müller | AUT | 27 | 3.821 | 3.815 | 51.942 | 52.011 | 1:43.953 |
| 7 | Nico Gleirscher | AUT | 25 | 3.851 | 3.866 | 52.044 | 51.967 | 1:44.011 |
| 8 | Timon Grancagnolo | GER | 11 | 3.913 | 3.910 | 52.200 | 52.040 | 1:44.240 |
| 9 | David Gleirscher | AUT | 20 | 3.869 | 3.874 | 52.300 | 52.170 | 1:44.470 |
| 10 | Jonathan Gustafson | USA | 23 | 3.868 | 3.859 | 52.404 | 52.175 | 1:44.579 |
| 11 | Jozef Ninis | SVK | 12 | 3.926 | 3.921 | 52.540 | 52.078 | 1:44.618 |
| 11 | David Nößler | GER | 21 | 3.869 | 3.867 | 52.440 | 52.178 | 1:44.618 |
| 13 | Andriy Mandziy | UKR | 17 | 3.896 | 3.907 | 52.481 | 52.381 | 1:44.862 |
| 14 | Tucker West | USA | 19 | 3.804 | 3.808 | 52.641 | 52.234 | 1:44.875 |
| 15 | Alexander Ferlazzo | AUS | 13 | 3.839 | 3.837 | 52.557 | 52.346 | 1:44.903 |
| 16 | Leon Felderer | ITA | 24 | 3.858 | 3.880 | 52.608 | 52.331 | 1:44.939 |
| 17 | Lukas Peccei | ITA | 15 | 3.940 | 3.936 | 52.678 | 52.290 | 1:44.968 |
| 18 | Matthew Greiner | USA | 4 | 3.927 | 3.926 | 52.733 | 52.611 | 1:45.344 |
| 19 | Svante Kohala | SWE | 8 | 3.912 | 3.917 | 53.082 | 52.441 | 1:45.523 |
| 20 | Anton Dukach | UKR | 14 | 3.856 | 3.858 | 53.022 | 52.530 | 1:45.552 |
| 21 | Gints Berzins | LAT | 16 | 3.847 | 3.836 | 53.139 | 52.537 | 1:45.676 |
| 22 | Mateusz Sochowicz | POL | 7 | 3.820 | 3.833 | 52.757 | 53.009 | 1:45.766 |
| 23 | Alex Gufler | ITA | 9 | 3.888 | 3.893 | 52.943 | 53.029 | 1:45.972 |
| 24 | Valentin Cretu | ROU | 10 | 3.903 | 3.906 | 53.010 | 52.968 | 1:45.978 |
| 25 | Dylan Morse | CAN | 6 | 3.898 | 3.907 | 53.197 | 52.948 | 1:46.145 |
| 26 | Rasmus Moberg | SWE | 2 | 3.911 | 3.901 | 53.221 | 53.038 | 1:46.259 |
| 27 | Mirza Nikolajev | BIH | 5 | 3.918 | 3.929 | 53.149 | 53.128 | 1:46.277 |
| 28 | Danyil Martinsovskyi | UKR | 3 | 3.947 | 3.945 | 53.526 | 53.763 | 1:47.289 |
| 29 | Zhenyu Bao | CHN | 1 | 3.926 | 3.948 | 54.218 | 54.218 | 1:48.436 |
| 30 | Kaspars Rinks | LAT | 18 | 3.900 | 3.987 | 52.904 | 59.857 | 1:52.761 |