From Laas, ITA
(January 6, 2025) – Italy’s Florian Clara has been on the FIL World Cup tour since the 2005/2006 season, where he began one of the most successful careers in doubles luge. A year later, he began sliding in the singles ranks alongside his doubles career.
He’d won 68 races in doubles alongside Patrick Pigneter, but had never won a gold medal in singles. That was until Monday, where Clara came from behind to take his first gold medal after 18 years on tour.
Clara sat second after the first heat, .11 behind longtime teammate Pigneter and .11 ahead of fellow Italian Daniel Gruber. In the second heat, Gruber slid to the lead, ahead of World Cup point leader Michael Scheikl, with just Clara and Pigneter still to slide.
Clara was next. He was a hundredth of a second ahead of his first slide at the first split, and continued to find speed over the remainder of his slide, finishing a tenth ahead of his first slide time.
All that stood between Clara and his first gold was Pigneter. Pigneter had trouble at the top, and found himself behind at the first split. Pigneter did his best to rally, but slid nearly a full second slower over his second run to fall out of the medals and give gold to Clara.
“It took a while,” Clara told FIL media after his second run. “I’m glad I’ve finally managed to win. This time, luck was on my side!”
Gruber took silver, and Scheikl bronze, with Swiss slider Stefan Federer scoring a season-best fourth place finish. Ziga Kralj continued a strong start to the season with a fifth place finish.
Torrey Cookman finished 19th as the top American, three spots ahead of Mason Palecek in 22nd. Thomas Matthews and Leonard Pizziola finished out the American effort in 24th and 25th, just ahead of Switzerland’s Shohei Tanaka in 26th.
At the halfway point of the 2024/2025 season, Michael Scheikl is the point leader, 40 points ahead of Florian Clara. Alex Oberhofer sits third, Ziga Kralj fourth, and Daniel Gruber fifth.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Florian Clara | ITA | 29 | 16.44 | 16.43 | 63.21 | 63.10 | 2:06.31 |
| 2 | Daniel Gruber | ITA | 22 | 16.25 | 16.24 | 63.32 | 63.40 | 2:06.72 |
| 3 | Michael Scheikl | AUT | 31 | 16.37 | 16.46 | 63.52 | 63.44 | 2:06.96 |
| 4 | Stefan Federer | SUI | 25 | 16.37 | 16.33 | 63.53 | 63.45 | 2:06.98 |
| 5 | Ziga Kralj | SLO | 27 | 16.50 | 16.46 | 63.57 | 63.49 | 2:07.06 |
| 6 | Patrick Pigneter | ITA | 9 | 16.51 | 17.02 | 63.10 | 64.05 | 2:07.15 |
| 7 | Alex Oberhofer | ITA | 30 | 16.57 | 17.02 | 63.78 | 63.41 | 2:07.19 |
| 8 | Fabian Achenrainer | AUT | 26 | 16.40 | 16.54 | 63.76 | 63.73 | 2:07.49 |
| 9 | Vid Kralj | SLO | 23 | 16.47 | 16.47 | 64.09 | 64.23 | 2:08.32 |
| 10 | Sebastian Feldhammer | AUT | 24 | 16.49 | 16.78 | 64.71 | 64.48 | 2:09.19 |
| 11 | Leon Auer | AUT | 12 | 16.61 | 16.58 | 64.50 | 65.41 | 2:09.91 |
| 12 | Vincent Streit | GER | 14 | 16.88 | 16.92 | 65.80 | 65.83 | 2:11.63 |
| 13 | Jerome Almer | SUI | 16 | 17.18 | 17.06 | 66.07 | 65.69 | 2:11.76 |
| 14 | Gabriel Halcin | SVK | 13 | 17.04 | 17.00 | 65.62 | 66.39 | 2:12.01 |
| 15 | Peter Neupauer | SVK | 20 | 17.44 | 17.25 | 66.09 | 66.74 | 2:12.83 |
| 16 | Samuel Halcin | SVK | 19 | 17.20 | 17.12 | 66.55 | 66.36 | 2:12.91 |
| 17 | Coskun Ercoskun | FIN | 15 | 17.41 | 17.91 | 66.20 | 66.84 | 2:13.04 |
| 18 | Marco Almer | SUI | 2 | 17.48 | 17.54 | 67.29 | 66.48 | 2:13.77 |
| 19 | Torrey Cookman | USA | 21 | 17.12 | 17.19 | 667.05 | 67.12 | 2:14.17 |
| 20 | Remi d’ Aviau de Ternay | FRA | 1 | 17.70 | 16.96 | 67.39 | 67.30 | 2:14.69 |
| 21 | David Rydl | CZE | 11 | 17.47 | 17.45 | 67.74 | 67.42 | 2:15.16 |
| 22 | Mason Palecek | USA | 4 | 17.46 | 17.45 | 67.97 | 67.30 | 2:15.27 |
| 23 | Dominik Neupauer | SVK | 18 | 17.44 | 17.41 | 68.13 | 67.65 | 2:15.78 |
| 24 | Thomas Mathews | USA | 3 | 17.94 | 17.57 | 68.95 | 68.08 | 2:17.03 |
| 25 | Leonard Pizziola | USA | 10 | 18.74 | 18.58 | 73.13 | 70.71 | 2:23.84 |
| 26 | Shohei Tanaka | SUI | 6 | 19.55 | 19.14 | 76.37 | 74.76 | 2:31.13 |
| 27 | Fabian Brunner | ITA | 28 | 16.38 | 63.53 | |||
| 28 | Mathias Troger | ITA | 5 | 16.54 | 63.73 | |||
| 29 | Florian Markt | AUT | 7 | 17.04 | 64.79 | |||
| 30 | Florian Freigassner | AUT | 17 | 16.82 | 65.15 |