From Igls, AUT
(February 9, 2024) – Lukas Nydegger held off China’s Wenqiang Geng to win his second straight Europe Cup gold medal, this time in Igls.
Nydegger took a big lead (by Igls standards) over teammate Stefan Röttig, .27 seconds, with Great Britain’s Laurence Bostock and Geng in third and fourth, respectively.
In the second heat Geng put down what was the fastest run of the heat to take the lead from teammate Jing Zhang a lead that he held until the final run of the day.
That run belonged to Nydegger. As with most sliders in the second heat, Nydegger’s second effort was slower than the first, and not as quick as Geng’s. However, Nydegger kept it close and was able to still score a victory by over three tenths of a second.
Geng took silver, and Bostock bronze.
The victory for Nydegger was his third of the season, and sixth straight podium.
Geng’s silver was a season-best finish and his fourth medal on the season. For Bostock, the bronze was his third medal in four races.
Röttig and Zhang tied for fourth, only .02 off of the podium, while Italy’s Giovanni Marchetti rounded out the top six.
Kane Densley made a big move from 13th in the first heat to put a second British sled in the top ten in tenth. Patrick Atkin had trouble in his second run and finished 22nd.
The United States’ Nick Tucker finished tied for 14th, up from 18th in the first heat. Darryl Payne finished 24th, while Sam Allred finished 35th.
Australia’s Nick Timmings finished 16th, up from 17th in the first heat.
With one race left in the 2023/2024 IBSF Europe Cup season, Lukas Nydegger leads Cedric Renner by 34 points. Stefan Röttig is third, 70 points out of the lead, tied with Wenqiang Geng but ahead with the tiebreaker. Laurence Bostock is fifth.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Finish |
| 1 | Lukas Nydegger | GER | 10 | 5.04 | 5.11 | 52.55 | 53.24 | 1:45.79 |
| 2 | Wenqiang Geng | CHN | 5 | 5.07 | 5.05 | 52.90 | 53.21 | 1:46.11 |
| 3 | Laurence Bostock | GBR | 13 | 4.90 | 4.92 | 52.85 | 53.35 | 1:46.20 |
| 4 | Stefan Röttig | GER | 4 | 4.89 | 4.87 | 52.82 | 53.40 | 1:46.22 |
| 4 | Jing Zhang | CHN | 35 | 4.93 | 4.94 | 52.93 | 53.29 | 1:46.22 |
| 6 | Giovanni Marchetti | ITA | 8 | 4.99 | 5.05 | 53.00 | 53.45 | 1:46.45 |
| 7 | Cedric Renner | GER | 7 | 5.17 | 5.19 | 53.16 | 53.59 | 1:46.75 |
| 8 | Manuel Schwärzer | ITA | 32 | 5.03 | 5.05 | 53.34 | 53.51 | 1:46.85 |
| 9 | Ludwig Mannhardt | GER | 15 | 5.17 | 5.21 | 53.17 | 53.85 | 1:47.02 |
| 10 | Kane Densley | GBR | 11 | 4.99 | 4.97 | 53.79 | 53.47 | 1:47.26 |
| 11 | Timm Beiwinkler | GER | 6 | 5.15 | 5.18 | 53.47 | 53.86 | 1:47.33 |
| 12 | Pietro Drovanti | ITA | 12 | 4.84 | 4.94 | 53.55 | 54.09 | 1:47.64 |
| 13 | Gabriele Marenchino | ITA | 18 | 5.01 | 5.01 | 53.95 | 53.74 | 1:47.69 |
| 14 | Joeri van Kuppeveld | NED | 16 | 4.94 | 4.99 | 53.89 | 54.16 | 1:48.05 |
| 14 | Nicholas Tucker | USA | 14 | 5.08 | 5.12 | 54.14 | 53.91 | 1:48.05 |
| 16 | Nicholas Timmings | AUS | 25 | 5.27 | 5.24 | 54.01 | 54.32 | 1:48.33 |
| 17 | Vladyslav Polyvach | POL | 26 | 5.17 | 5.26 | 54.27 | 54.17 | 1:48.44 |
| 18 | Cedrik Langer | GER | 9 | 5.16 | 5.21 | 54.21 | 54.27 | 1:48.48 |
| 19 | Eloy Fernandez | ESP | 3 | 5.28 | 5.29 | 53.98 | 54.66 | 1:48.64 |
| 20 | Yaroslav Lavreniuk | UKR | 22 | 5.25 | 5.32 | 54.20 | 54.52 | 1:48.72 |
| 21 | Andrea Monti | ITA | 19 | 5.04 | 5.09 | 54.48 | 54.32 | 1:48.80 |
| 22 | Patrick Atkin | GBR | 17 | 5.03 | 4.96 | 53.47 | 55.36 | 1;48.83 |
| 23 | Lin-Wei Peng | TPE | 29 | 5.19 | 5.19 | 54.48 | 54.43 | 1:48.91 |
| 24 | Darryl Payne | USA | 28 | 5.10 | 5.12 | 54.25 | 55.01 | 1:49.26 |
| 25 | Maxime Mingeon | FRA | 23 | 5.25 | 5.29 | 54.56 | 54.82 | 1:49.38 |
| 26 | Guido Persoon | NED | 20 | 4.97 | 54.63 | |||
| 27 | Roman Tanzer | AUT | 21 | 5.14 | 54.66 | |||
| 28 | Valentino Buff | SUI | 34 | 5.58 | 54.77 | |||
| 29 | Bor van den Berg | NED | 24 | 5.10 | 54.92 | |||
| 30 | Lorenzo Conti | ITA | 1 | 5.19 | 54.95 | |||
| 31 | Gidon Bante | NED | 2 | 5.14 | 54.97 | |||
| 32 | Andri Müller | SUI | 37 | 5.40 | 55.19 | |||
| 33 | Samuele Battaini | SUI | 36 | 5.42 | 55.26 | |||
| 34 | Vladyslav Klymenko | UKR | 30 | 5.37 | 55.62 | |||
| 35 | Sam Allred | USA | 33 | 5.04 | 55.77 | |||
| 36 | Marko Vincic | SRB | 31 | 5.63 | 57.38 | |||
| DNS | Bradley Nicol | USA | 27 | DNS |
