From Winterleiten, AUT
(December 22, 2024) – Michael Scheikl stayed perfect on the season in Winterleiten with a victory over a foursome of Italians, but had to come from behind to do so.
Italy’s Daniel Gruber was the leader after the first heat. Behind him, Scheikl, Florian Clara, Fabian Brunner, Alex Oberhofer, and Ziga Kralj all lingered within a quarter of a second of the leader.
In the second heat Kralj took the lead, but with a significantly slower second effort, enough for a sixth place finish but with little chance to move up.
Up next was Oberhofer, who threw down a run that was quicker than his first and enough to take the lead from Kralj. That lead would hold for a little while, with both Brunner and Clara unable to pick their Italian teammate off the top of the podium.
Scheikl was the penultimate slider in the second heat, and like Oberhofer was able to find more speed in his second run than his first on his way to the leader’s box.
The final slider off was Gruber, who had taken a .04 second lead into the second heat. Gruber’s second start was .o3 slower than Scheikl’s race-fastest start. The remaining .01 lead was given away by the next split, as Gruber struggled to match his first time and eventually finished entirely off the podium in fifth place.
That gave the victory to Scheikl, with Oberhofer in second. Clara held onto third by a tenth of a second over Brunner in fourth, with Gruber fifth.
Two races into the 2024/2025 World Cup season, Scheikl has a 30 point lead over two-time runner-up Alex Oberhofer. Fabian Brunner, bronze medalist in the first race of the season, sits tied for third overall with teammate Florian Clara, with Ziga Kralj of Slovenia in fifth.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Michael Scheikl | AUT | 37 | 4.05 | 4.03 | 60.42 | 60.40 | 2:00.82 |
| 2 | Alex Oberhofer | ITA | 20 | 4.13 | 4.13 | 60.59 | 60.51 | 2:01.10 |
| 3 | Florian Clara | ITA | 38 | 4.11 | 4.12 | 60.44 | 60.71 | 2:01.15 |
| 4 | Fabian Brunner | ITA | 39 | 4.15 | 4.19 | 60.53 | 60.72 | 2:01.25 |
| 5 | Daniel Gruber | ITA | 36 | 4.09 | 4.06 | 60.38 | 60.98 | 2:01.36 |
| 6 | Ziga Kralj | SLO | 34 | 4.26 | 4.27 | 60.60 | 61.29 | 2:01.89 |
| 7 | Fabian Achenrainer | AUT | 6 | 4.19 | 4.24 | 61.11 | 61.27 | 2:02.38 |
| 8 | Stefan Federer | SUI | 35 | 4.15 | 4.14 | 61.25 | 61.21 | 2:02.46 |
| 9 | Vid Kralj | SLO | 33 | 4.19 | 4.17 | 61.30 | 61.32 | 2:02.62 |
| 10 | Sebastian Feldhamer | AUT | 31 | 4.21 | 4.24 | 61.25 | 61.52 | 2:02.77 |
| 11 | Leon Auer | AUT | 22 | 4.15 | 4.13 | 61.48 | 61.76 | 2:03.24 |
| 12 | Samuel Halcin | SVK | 7 | 4.26 | 4.23 | 63.02 | 63.41 | 2:06.43 |
| 13 | Torrey Cookman | USA | 26 | 4.48 | 4.40 | 63.28 | 63.27 | 2:06.55 |
| 14 | Peter Neupauer | SVK | 27 | 4.46 | 4.42 | 63.78 | 63.60 | 2:07.38 |
| 15 | Coskun Ercoskun | FIN | 1 | 4.33 | 4.32 | 63.58 | 63.90 | 2:07.48 |
| 16 | Jerome Almer | SUI | 28 | 4.39 | 4.38 | 63.74 | 63.92 | 2:07.66 |
| 17 | Gabriel Halcin | SVK | 30 | 4.43 | 4.42 | 64.11 | 63.67 | 2:07.78 |
| 18 | Vincent Streit | GER | 18 | 4.32 | 4.34 | 64.37 | 64.16 | 2:08.53 |
| 19 | Dominik Neuapuer | SVK | 25 | 4.43 | 4.53 | 64.46 | 64.12 | 2:08.58 |
| 20 | Viorel Deac | ROU | 5 | 4.37 | 4.50 | 65.09 | 64.49 | 2:09.58 |
| 21 | David Rydl | CZE | 17 | 4.64 | 4.66 | 64.72 | 64.88 | 2:09.60 |
| 22 | Tomas Hasek | CZE | 16 | 4.57 | 4.56 | 64.82 | 66.34 | 2:11.16 |
| 23 | Konrad Plonka | POL | 13 | 4.51 | 4.58 | 66.55 | 66.84 | 2:13.39 |
| 24 | Wojciech Kwiecinski | POL | 14 | 4.42 | 4.36 | 67.14 | 66.44 | 2:13.58 |
| 25 | Leonard Pizziola | USA | 21 | 4.70 | 4.69 | 66.87 | 68.16 | 2:15.03 |
| 26 | Silvio Strugari | ROU | 4 | 4.62 | 4.73 | 67.54 | 68.15 | 2:15.69 |
| 27 | Patrick Pigneter | ITA | 40 | 4.20 | 60.57 | |||
| 28 | Matthias Lambacher | ITA | 29 | 4.16 | 61.50 | |||
| 29 | Florian Markt | AUT | 32 | 4.27 | 61.54 | |||
| 30 | Florian Freigassner | AUT | 9 | 4.29 | 61.86 | |||
| 31 | Jakub Mercak | CZE | 10 | 4.74 | 67.95 | |||
| 32 | Nikolas Dawidowski | POL | 12 | 4.76 | 68.47 | |||
| 33 | Patryk Hudy | POL | 11 | 4.52 | 69.61 | |||
| 34 | Jiri Navratil | CZE | 8 | 5.17 | 70.16 | |||
| 35 | Shohei Tanaka | SUI | 24 | 4.88 | 70.70 | |||
| 36 | Cornel Coca | ROU | 2 | 5.05 | 70.82 | |||
| 37 | Mason Palecek | USA | 23 | 4.49 | 71.05 | |||
| 38 | Jan Janosek | CZE | 3 | 4.66 | 71.61 | |||
| 39 | Thomas Matthews | USA | 15 | 4.66 | 72.44 |