From Sigulda, LAT
(March 3, 2024) – Kristers Aparjods both defended home ice and kept the Sigulda track record in Latvia with a gold medal in the men’s luge season finale.
In the first heat, Dominik Fischnaller slid to the lead with a track record 47.565 downtime, ahead of Felix Loch and Nico Gleirscher. Aparjods sat in fourth on the outside of the podium looking in.
In the second heat, Aparjods threw down a big run despite what sounded like an occasional small skid. It was enough to take the lead and lower the track record to a 47.493.
From there, neither Gleirscher nor Loch could match Aparjods’ pace. Loch slid into second behind Aparjods, with Gleirscher in third, at risk of being bumped off the podium by the final contender in Fischnaller. Fischnaller, though, could not match the pace of any of anyone on the provisional podium and finished his final run of the men’s singles season in fourth.
Aparjods’ victory gave him his second gold medal of the season and solidified a second place overall finish.
“Right now I don’t have words,” Aparjods told Kate Hansen after the race. “I can’t describe this feeling. With a track record…the run was good to the start to the finish line and I really couldn’t be more happy than I am right now!”
Loch’s silver was his fourth medal in the last five races. For Gleirscher, his bronze was his fourth medal on the season and first since a silver medal in Igls in mid-January.
Fischnaller finished in fourth, his best finish since a silver medal in Winterberg. David Gleirscher and Gints Berzins rounded out the top six.
Ukraine’s Anton Dukach once again finished seventh in Sigulda, his second straight top ten.
Tucker West led the American effort in tenth, up from 13th in the first heat after he edged out Slovakian Jozef Ninis by just .008. Jonny Gustafson finished the season with a 16th place finish.
The race was contested using both the modified start order rules where the first heat, held on Saturday, saw Nation’s Cup qualifiers going fifth through first from their race then the seeded groups, then the remainder of the qualifiers. On Sunday, the top 20 went first, from 20th to first, then the remainder of the field from 21st back.
In the overall standings, Max Langenhan took the season title despite not racing, having clinched a week prior. Krister Aparjods finished the year in second by
Max Langenhan sat out the race with a back injury, but had already wrapped up the season title. Kristers Aparjods finished the season second overall. Felix Loch edged out Jonas Müller by 42 points for third place on the season. Müller finished the year in fourth place, David and Nico Gleirscher finished the year in fourth and fifth respectively.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Kristers Aparjods | LAT | 14 | 4.590 | 4.604 | 47.676 | 47.493 | 1:35.169 |
| 2 | Felix Loch | GER | 15 | 4.612 | 4.605 | 47.644 | 47.671 | 1:35.315 |
| 3 | Nico Gleirscher | AUT | 10 | 4.602 | 4.637 | 47.659 | 47.755 | 1:35.414 |
| 4 | Dominik Fischnaller | ITA | 6 | 4.627 | 4.651 | 47.565 | 47.890 | 1:35.455 |
| 5 | David Gleirscher | AUT | 16 | 4.657 | 4.682 | 47.926 | 47.600 | 1:35.526 |
| 6 | Gints Berzins | LAT | 11 | 4.643 | 4.617 | 47.923 | 47.774 | 1:35.697 |
| 7 | Anton Dukach | UKR | 9 | 4.638 | 4.647 | 47.849 | 47.926 | 1:35.775 |
| 8 | Jonas Müller | AUT | 12 | 4.625 | 4.639 | 47.814 | 47.980 | 1:35.794 |
| 9 | Kaspars Rinks | LAT | 3 | 4.662 | 4.670 | 47.839 | 47.989 | 1:35.828 |
| 10 | Tucker West | USA | 8 | 4.555 | 4.611 | 48.126 | 47.907 | 1:36.033 |
| 11 | Jozef Ninis | SVK | 1 | 4.707 | 4.743 | 48.203 | 47.838 | 1:36.041 |
| 12 | Svante Kohala | SWE | 2 | 4.702 | 4.710 | 48.062 | 47.989 | 1:36.051 |
| 13 | Andriy Mandziy | UKR | 4 | 4.639 | 4.681 | 48.018 | 48.048 | 1:36.066 |
| 14 | Wolfgang Kindl | AUT | 13 | 4.664 | 4.678 | 47.680 | 48.476 | 1:36.156 |
| 15 | Alexander Ferlazzo | AUS | 18 | 4.613 | 4.631 | 48.330 | 47.854 | 1:36.184 |
| 16 | Jonathan Gustafson | USA | 21 | 4.619 | 4.630 | 48.530 | 48.174 | 1:36.704 |
| 17 | Leon Felderer | ITA | 7 | 4.634 | 4.650 | 48.553 | 48.301 | 1:36.854 |
| 18 | Timon Grancagnolo | GER | 5 | 4.681 | 4.698 | 48.663 | 48.211 | 1:36.874 |
| 19 | Valentin Cretu | ROU | 19 | 4.691 | 4.717 | 48.639 | 48.456 | 1:37.095 |
| 20 | Alex Gufler | ITA | 17 | 4.683 | 4.699 | 48.786 | 49.245 | 1:38.031 |
| 21 | Roberts Dreimanis | LAT | 24 | 4.768 | 4.771 | 49.169 | 49.107 | 1:38.276 |
| 22 | Marian Skupek | SVK | 22 | 4.707 | 4.708 | 49.690 | 49.377 | 1:39.067 |
| 23 | Luka Mtchedliani | GEO | 26 | 4.779 | 4.799 | 50.991 | 50.399 | 1:41.390 |
| 24 | Shaonan Liu | CHN | 30 | 4.741 | 4.769 | 50.363 | 51.102 | 1:41.765 |
| 25 | Walter Vikström | FIN | 27 | 4.809 | 4.813 | 51.361 | 51.124 | 1:42.485 |
| 26 | Rasmus Moberg | SWE | 28 | 4.767 | 4.757 | 54.836 | 49.134 | 1:43.970 |
| DNF | Jing Li | CHN | 25 | 4.753 | 4.769 | 49.845 | DNF | |
| DNF | Danyil Martsinovskyi | UKR | 20 | 4.742 | DNF | |||
| DNF | Eduard-Mihai Craciun | ROU | 23 | 4.701 | DNF | |||
| DNF | Zhenyu Bao | CHN | 29 | 4.761 | DNF |