Langenhan and Taubitz Slide to Mixed Singles Gold

From Lillehammer, NOR

(December 1, 2024) – Like the mixed doubles earlier in the day, the FIL held its first Mixed Singles event in Lillehammer, this time featuring the men starting first from the men’s start, then the women pulling the reaction time from the women’s start.

Like their counterparts in the mixed doubles race earlier in the day, the German team of Max Langenhan and Julia Taubitz slid to gold to keep Germany perfect in mixed events this season.

Langenhan slid out to a nearly half of a second lead over the United States’ Johnny Gustafson, and while Taubitz’s run time wasn’t quite as quick as Emly Sweeney’s, it was quick and clean and enough to give the German duo gold.

After the race, Langenhan told FIL TV that this race was a bit of a makeup run from his race earlier in the day.

“I feel amazing,” he said. “This was a much better run than my second run earlier.”

Taubitz also saw the race as a bit of a makeup run.

“I’m really happy, I had a really good run. My second run was a little bad, so this was a good end to the weekend with two wins.”

Despite being held off by the Germans, the race was the culmination of a great race weekend for the United States. Gustafson had tied a career-best finish in his race while Sweeney took silver with a track record in her race. Combined, the duo took silver in the single mixed relay a couple of hours after their doubles teammates had won bronze in their race.

Gustafson underplayed his role in the team’s effort.

“This was really cool,” Gustafson said. “It was a lot of fun. Emily put the backpack on, I hopped in and Emily carried us to a second place.”

Felix Loch, the new track record holder in men’s singles, and Merle Fräbel gave Germany a bronze medal to go with their golds in Mixed Singles and Mixed Doubles.

Latvia’s Kaspars Rinks and Elina Bota finished fourth, with teammates Kristers Aparjods and Kendija Aparjode fifth. Austria’s Wolfgang Kindl and Lisa Schulte rounded out the top six.

The race also was the first FIL event where mixed nations were able to compete. Of those teams, the duo of Australia’s Alex Ferlazzo and Switzerland’s Natalie Maag, were the top pairing with a ninth place finish. Just behind them were the second American team of Tucker West and Summer Britcher in tenth.

Results: