From Sigulda, LAT
(January 5, 2025) – Traditionally, Austria has struggled a bit in tricky Sigulda, but Nico Gleirscher made it look easy on Sunday as he slid to gold to continue a strong start to the 2024/2025 season.
Latvia’s Kristers Aparjods, the track record holder, took the lead from the 11th starting spot and held it for two more sleds until Gleirscher took his turn. Gleirscher slid to a .088 advantage over Aparjods, with only teammate Jonas Müller and Germany’s Max Langenhan within two tenths of a second.
In the second heat, Langenhan rallied with the quickest run of the heat to that point, and then moved into the medals after Müller made a few critical errors in his second effort.
Müller would eventually finish 12th.
Aparjods was next. The track record holder had made a small mistake at the start in his first run and had hoped to clean that up. While his second started was better, a few small corrections on his way down was enough for the lead but left the door open for Gleirscher.
Gleirscher, arguably in the best form of his career, took full advantage of that open door. While his start was a tick slower, he was the second quickest of the day and enough to take gold by .184 over Aparjodes, with only Langenhan also within a third of a second.
The win for Gleirscher was his second of the season and third straight medal.
For the usually consistent Aparjods, his silver was his first medal of the season, while Langenhan’s bronze was his first medal since a season-opening win in Lillehammer.
Italy’s Dominik Fischnaller had one of his best runs of the season in the second heat to slide from seventh to fourth, just ahead of Felix Loch in fifth.
Latvia’s Gints Berzins rounded out the top six.
The United States’ Tucker West had a pair of top five starts coupled with a pair of top eight slides to finish seventh. Teammate Jonny Gustafson and Aidan Mueller both missed the second heat and finished 26th and 28th, respectively.
Australian Alex Ferlazzo finished 17th.
Four races into the 2024/2025 men’s luge season, Nico Gleirscher holds a 60 point lead over Max Langenhan. Jonas Müller is third, with Wolfgang Kindl fourth and Felix Loch fifth.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Nico Gleirscher | AUT | 14 | 4.595 | 4.622 | 47.539 | 47.660 | 1:35.199 |
| 2 | Kristers Aparjods | LAT | 11 | 4.636 | 4.639 | 47.627 | 47.756 | 1:35.383 |
| 3 | Max Langenhan | GER | 15 | 4.595 | 4.585 | 47.733 | 47.747 | 1:35.480 |
| 4 | Dominik Fischnaller | ITA | 9 | 4.617 | 4.623 | 47.807 | 47.748 | 1:35.555 |
| 5 | Felix Loch | GER | 16 | 4.612 | 4.618 | 47.780 | 47.833 | 1:35.613 |
| 6 | Gints Berzins | LAT | 5 | 4.596 | 4.621 | 47.804 | 47.945 | 1:35.749 |
| 7 | Tucker West | USA | 4 | 4.606 | 4.615 | 47.899 | 47.899 | 1:35.798 |
| 8 | Woflgang Kindl | AUT | 17 | 4.668 | 4.684 | 47.903 | 47.974 | 1:35.877 |
| 9 | David Gleirscher | AUT | 12 | 4.615 | 4.628 | 48.018 | 47.936 | 1:35.954 |
| 10 | Jozef Ninis | SVK | 2 | 4.694 | 4.707 | 48.019 | 47.972 | 1:35.991 |
| 11 | Kaspars Rinks | LAT | 3 | 4.670 | 4.666 | 48.024 | 47.990 | 1:36.014 |
| 12 | Jonas Müller | AUT | 13 | 4.610 | 4.604 | 47.713 | 48.332 | 1:36.045 |
| 13 | Timon Grancagnolo | GER | 6 | 4.658 | 4.656 | 48.027 | 48.074 | 1:36.101 |
| 14 | David Nößler | GER | 8 | 4.668 | 4.663 | 48.301 | 48.114 | 1:36.415 |
| 15 | Leon Felderer | ITA | 7 | 4.670 | 4.639 | 48.279 | 48.326 | 1:36.605 |
| 16 | Svante Kohala | SWE | 20 | 4.710 | 4.717 | 48.373 | 48.251 | 1:36.624 |
| 17 | Alexander Ferlazzo | AUS | 1 | 4.625 | 4.635 | 48.195 | 48.457 | 1:36.652 |
| 18 | Alex Gufler | ITA | 25 | 4.665 | 4.683 | 48.472 | 48.320 | 1:36.792 |
| 19 | Valentin Cretu | ROU | 24 | 4.697 | 4.709 | 48.484 | 48.358 | 1:36.842 |
| 20 | Andriy Mandziy | UKR | 19 | 4.632 | 4.644 | 48.443 | 48.467 | 1:36.910 |
| 21 | Danyil Martsinovskyi | UKR | 27 | 4.673 | 48.731 | |||
| 22 | Marian Skupek | SVK | 23 | 4.709 | 48.733 | |||
| 23 | Mateusz Sochowicz | POL | 21 | 4.578 | 48.761 | |||
| 24 | Anton Dukach | UKR | 18 | 4.641 | 48.776 | |||
| 25 | Arkadiusz Trojga | POL | 26 | 4.713 | 49.039 | |||
| 26 | Jonathan Gustafson | USA | 10 | 4.638 | 49.161 | |||
| 27 | Seiya Kobayashi | JPN | 22 | 4.636 | 49.186 | |||
| 28 | Aidan Mueller | USA | 29 | 4.725 | 49.433 | |||
| 29 | Eduard-Mihai Craciun | ROU | 28 | 4.881 | 49.744 | |||
| 30 | Bruno Mick | SVK | 30 | 4.773 | 49.783 |