From Winterleiten, AUT
(December 21, 2024) – Like int he women’s and doubles luge races before him, Michael Scheikl roke a track record in his first run on his way to victory in the season opener in Winterleiten.
Scheikl opened up a .11 lead over Italy’s Fabian Brunner, with Alex Oberhofer only .26 back in third place after one run. In the second heat, Oberhofer put down a clean run, and Brunner couldn’t match as the two Italians swapped places, with Oberhofer holding onto the lead with only Scheikl to go.
But the Austrian wouldn’t be denied in his home country. His second run wasn’t just the quickest of the heat, but was the second fastest of the race behind his first run.
Scheikl’s margin of victory was .75, one of the largest in the last ten races in men’s natural track luge.
Oberhofer edged Brunner by just .01 for silver, with Brunner taking bronze.
Florian Clara finished fourth, with Slovenia’s Ziga Kralj starting his season off strong in fifth. Sebastian Feldhammer rounded out the top six for Austria.
Torrey Cookman finished a solid 12th for the United States. Leonard Pizziola finished 26th, giving two Americans a second run to open the season.
Mason Palecek and Thomas Matthews finished 34th and 35th to round out the American effort.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Michael Scheikl | AUT | 37 | 4.02 | 3.79 | 59.57 | 59.78 | 1:59.35 |
| 2 | Alex Oberhofer | ITA | 20 | 4.12 | 4.16 | 59.83 | 60.27 | 2:00.10 |
| 3 | Fabian Brunner | ITA | 39 | 3.90 | 3.91 | 59.68 | 60.43 | 2:00.11 |
| 4 | Florian Clara | ITA | 38 | 3.89 | 3.85 | 60.06 | 60.30 | 2:00.36 |
| 5 | Ziga Kralj | SLO | 34 | 4.22 | 4.23 | 60.29 | 60.11 | 2:00.34 |
| 6 | Sebastian Feldhammer | AUT | 31 | 4.21 | 4.23 | 60.73 | 60.75 | 2:01.48 |
| 7 | Stefan Federer | SUI | 35 | 3.95 | 3.99 | 60.49 | 61.20 | 2:01.69 |
| 8 | Fabian Achenrainer | AUT | 6 | 4.22 | 4.19 | 60.61 | 61.15 | 2:01.76 |
| 9 | Florian Freigassner | AUT | 9 | 4.23 | 4.29 | 60.84 | 61.54 | 2:02.38 |
| 10 | Vid Kralj | SLO | 33 | 4.21 | 4.13 | 61.41 | 61.36 | 2:02.77 |
| 11 | Peter Neupauer | SVK | 27 | 4.41 | 4.47 | 63.08 | 63.53 | 2:06.61 |
| 12 | Torrey Cookman | USA | 26 | 4.39 | 4.42 | 63.31 | 63.40 | 2:06.71 |
| 13 | Dominik Neupauer | SVK | 25 | 4.08 | 4.36 | 63.21 | 63.80 | 2:07.01 |
| 14 | Samuel Halcin | SVK | 7 | 4.27 | 4.32 | 63.50 | 63.56 | 2:07.06 |
| 15 | Vincent Streit | GER | 18 | 4.08 | 4.08 | 63.90 | 63.78 | 2:07.68 |
| 16 | Jerome Almer | SUI | 28 | 4.37 | 4.43 | 64.03 | 64.30 | 2:08.33 |
| 17 | Coskun Ercoskun | FIN | 1 | 4.10 | 4.29 | 64.27 | 64.48 | 2:08.75 |
| 18 | Viorel Andre Deac | ROU | 5 | 4.45 | 4.49 | 64.64 | 64.65 | 2:09.29 |
| 19 | Gabriel Halcin | SVK | 30 | 4.34 | 4.36 | 62.60 | 69.32 | 2:11.92 |
| 20 | David Rydl | CZE | 17 | 4.35 | 4.32 | 67.57 | 65.14 | 2:12.71 |
| 21 | Tomas Hasek | CZE | 16 | 4.59 | 4.61 | 66.50 | 67.09 | 2:13.59 |
| 22 | Silvio Strugari | ROU | 4 | 4.54 | 4.60 | 66.76 | 67.28 | 2:14.04 |
| 23 | Nikolas Dawidowski | POL | 12 | 4.71 | 4.42 | 66.07 | 70.02 | 2:16.09 |
| 24 | Jakub Mercak | CZE | 10 | 4.71 | 4.73 | 67.68 | 68.92 | 2:16.60 |
| 25 | Patrick Pigneter | ITA | 40 | 4.21 | 4.19 | 64.42 | 81.16 | 2:25.58 |
| 26 | Leonard Pizziola | USA | 21 | 4.70 | 4.73 | 67.54 | 90.43 | 2:37.97 |
| 27 | Daniel Gruber | ITA | 36 | 4.10 | 60.39 | |||
| 28 | Matthias Troger | ITA | 19 | 4.22 | 60.45 | |||
| 29 | Florian Markt | AUT | 32 | 4.22 | 61.76 | |||
| 30 | Leon Auer | AUT | 22 | 4.20 | 62.28 | |||
| 31 | Patryk Hudy | POL | 11 | 4.39 | 69.65 | |||
| 32 | Shohei Tanaka | AUT | 22 | 4.20 | 70.40 | |||
| 33 | Cornel Coca | ROU | 2 | 4.53 | 71.13 | |||
| 34 | Mason Palecek | USA | 23 | 4.59 | 72.23 | |||
| 35 | Thomas Matthews | USA | 15 | 4.60 | 72.53 | |||
| 36 | Jan Janosek | CZE | 3 | 4.67 | 72.85 | |||
| 37 | Jiri Navratil | CZE | 8 | 5.05 | 78.17 | |||
| 38 | Konrad Plonka | POL | 13 | 4.21 | 72.75 | |||
| 39 | Wojciech Kwiecinski | POL | 14 | 4.42 | 94.44 |