From Lillehammer, NOR
(December 1, 2024) – Max Langenhan picked up right where he left off during the 2023/2024 season with a victory in the men’s luge World Cup opener.
Langenhan set the quick time in the first heat to take the lead ahead of Austria’s Wolfgang Kindl and German teammate Timon Grancagnolo. behind the three on the provisional podium lurked Felix Loch, who has made a habit of coming from behind in recent years.
In the second heat Loch once again snuck up on the field, at least as much as Loch can sneak up on anyone. HIs second run was a track record 48.371, and was enough to move him from seventh in the first heat past teammate Grancagnolo and onto the podium.
But another win would not come today for Loch. Kindl made sure of that with an outstanding run of his own, only .031 off of Loch’s second run place and plenty enough to move into the lead with just Langenhan to go.
Nobody has won more races in the last two years than Max Langenhan. His second run was quicker than his first, but maybe not quite as clean. It was slower than both Kindl and Loch’s downtimes, but coupled with his first run time it was more than enough to win the 16th gold medal of his career.
“It was a bit sketchy out of Curve 13,” Langenhan said of his second run. “But I was really happy when I came up the outrun and saw the big number one!”
For Kindl, the silver medal was his second medal on the weekend after winning bronze in the men’s doubles race on Saturday.
For Loch, a bronze was a nice medal to go along with his track record. As he told FIL TV after his run: “The conditions compared to training were very different. We made some changes on the sled, and it was a great day with a track record!”
The first man off the podium was Germany’s Timon Grancagnolo, but his fourth place finish was a career best.
The United States put one slider in the top five to continue a strong weekend in Lillehammer. Jonny Gustafson put down a pair of outstanding runs to finish fifth, which tied his best result in the World Cup. His second run was the sixth quickest run ever in Lillehammer
Dominik Fischnaller came into the race in Lillehammer having won the previous two events held on the Norwegian track. The Italian couldn’t replicate that magic but did finish sixth.
Tucker West set the start record in the first heat with a 4.335 and finished his run in tenth place. He had a small issue at the top of his second run and fell out of the top ten to 12th. Matthew Greiner missed out on a second run by only .044 with a 21st finish, while Aidan Mueller had trouble in his run and finished 28th to round out the American effort.
The track record fell often in he second heat. Germany’s David Nößler threw down a track record second run with a 48.542, nearly two tenths ahead of the old track record. It was enough to move up from 18th in the first heat to 12th. That track record lasted until Nico Gleirscher slid from ninth, lowered the time to a 48.527. That time lasted until Loch’s track record from seventh place.
The race was the first men’s luge race held with the new start list rules, where only the top 20 go onto the second heat.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Max Langenhan | GER | 12 | 4.383 | 4.373 | 48.826 | 48.512 | 1:37.338 |
| 2 | Wolfgang Kindl | AUT | 9 | 4.428 | 4.426 | 48.963 | 48.402 | 1:37.365 |
| 3 | Felix Loch | GER | 16 | 4.387 | 4.367 | 49.151 | 48.371 | 1:37.522 |
| 4 | Timon Grancagnolo | GER | 5 | 4.413 | 4.421 | 48.970 | 48.649 | 1:37.619 |
| 5 | Jonathan Gustafson | USA | 4 | 4.409 | 4.414 | 49.070 | 48.557 | 1:37.627 |
| 6 | Dominik Fischnaller | ITA | 7 | 4.382 | 4.391 | 49.057 | 48.607 | 1:37.664 |
| 7 | Nico Gleirscher | AUT | 17 | 4.398 | 4.395 | 49.236 | 48.527 | 1:37.763 |
| 8 | Jonas Müller | AUT | 15 | 4.429 | 4.359 | 49.272 | 48.597 | 1:37.869 |
| 9 | Kristers Aparjods | LAT | 13 | 4.429 | 4.405 | 49.274 | 48.775 | 1:38.049 |
| 10 | Leon Felderer | ITA | 2 | 4.388 | 4.426 | 49.102 | 49.006 | 1:38.108 |
| 11 | David Nößler | GER | 3 | 4.426 | 4.422 | 49.621 | 48.542 | 1:38.163 |
| 12 | Tucker West | USA | 11 | 4.335 | 4.405 | 49.262 | 48.997 | 1:38.259 |
| 13 | David Gleirscher | AUT | 14 | 4.419 | 4.415 | 49.222 | 49.067 | 1:38.289 |
| 14 | Anton Dukach | UKR | 8 | 4.435 | 4.436 | 49.369 | 48.933 | 1:38.302 |
| 15 | Jozef Ninis | SVK | 1 | 4.471 | 4.469 | 49.336 | 48.978 | 1:38.314 |
| 16 | Kaspars Rinks | LAT | 18 | 4.444 | 4.441 | 49.545 | 48.861 | 1:38.406 |
| 17 | Alexander Ferlazzo | AUS | 10 | 4.377 | 4.383 | 49.408 | 49.005 | 1:38.413 |
| 18 | Gints Berzins | LAT | 6 | 4.391 | 4.390 | 49.328 | 49.133 | 1:38.461 |
| 19 | Svante Kohala | SWE | 20 | 4.435 | 4.447 | 49.978 | 49.216 | 1:39.194 |
| 20 | Andriy Mandziy | UKR | 21 | 4.439 | 4.441 | 50.133 | 49.725 | 1:39.858 |
| 21 | Matthew Greiner | USA | 27 | 4.482 | 50.177 | |||
| 22 | Seiya Kobayashi | JPN | 23 | 4.428 | 50.256 | |||
| 23 | Lukas Peccei | ITA | 26 | 4.466 | 50.403 | |||
| 24 | Alex Gufler | ITA | 24 | 4.474 | 50.462 | |||
| 25 | Mateusz Sochowicz | POL | 25 | 4.399 | 50.489 | |||
| 26 | Marian Skupek | SVK | 19 | 4.462 | 50.608 | |||
| 27 | Rasmus Moberg | SWE | 22 | 4.509 | 50.761 | |||
| 28 | Aidan Mueller | USA | 28 | 4.494 | 50.838 | |||
| 29 | Valentin Cretu | ROU | 29 | 5.512 | 51.004 | |||
| 30 | Zhenyu Bao | CHN | 30 | 4.519 | 51.848 |
