From Winterberg, GER
(January 19, 2025) – Jonas Müller took a week off. He doesn’t really like Altenberg, and with the goal this season a world championship title in Whistler it wasn’t terribly important for him to be racing there.
He came to Winterberg well rested and took both the track record and the gold medal in his return to action.
The top seven after the first heat were all under the old track record of 51.273, which had been set on Friday by Anton Dukach. Müller was at the top of the scoring sheet after the first run with a track record 50.722, with Nico Gleirscher, Max Langenhan, and Woflgang Kindl all in the hunt not just for a podium but a shot at gold.
In the second heat Felix Loch made another bid for a move up the order with a strong second run that was enough to move him up, but only to fifth. Austria’s Wolfgang Kindl put down a second run that was a hundredth quicker and enough to hold onto his position.
But Kindl’s effort wasn’t enough to get him on the podium for the second time this season in singles competition. Max Langenhan was next and put down what would be the quick run of the second heat to both keep ahead of Kindl and move up a spot ahead of Nico Gleirscher, whose second run was fine but not enough to keep ahead of the reigning world champ.
Finally it was Müller’s turn in the second heat. His heat-quickest start matched his first, and while Müller stayed ahead of Langenhan most of the way down, it got close late, with Müller winning by .055 over Langenhan, with Gleirscher third.
It was the second win on the season for Müller. Langenhan’s silver was his third straight medal and fourth on the year, while Gleirscher’s bronze was his fourth medal in five races.
Kindl finished fourth, just ahead of Loch in fifth, with Dominik Fischnaller rounding out the top six.
Jonny Gustafason led the way for the United States as the only slider to make it into the second heat. His second run nearly mirrored Ashley Farquharson’s on Saturday, where he hit the walls early and that killed his run before it started. Gustafson finished 20th, one spot ahead of Tucker West in 21st, while Aidan Mueller finished 26th.
Canada placed two men into the morning’s race. Dylan Morse finished 25th from the 30th starting position, while Theo Downey finished 30th.
Australia’s Alex Ferlazzo scored a season-best finish in 12th, up from 17th in the first heat.
With three races remaining in the 2024/2025 World Cup season, there’s a tie for the World Cup lead, with Max Langenhan and Nico Gleirscher with matching tallies of 456. Felix Loch is third, Jonas Müller is fourth despite missing a race, and Dominik Fischnaller fifth.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Jonas Müller | AUT | 8 | 3.809 | 3.890 | 50.722 | 51.020 | 1:41.742 |
| 2 | Max Langenhan | GER | 15 | 3.845 | 3.841 | 50.831 | 50.966 | 1:41.797 |
| 3 | Nico Gleirscher | AUT | 13 | 3.831 | 3.840 | 50.822 | 51.021 | 1:41.843 |
| 4 | Wolfgang Kindl | AUT | 11 | 3.878 | 3.876 | 50.915 | 51.050 | 1:41.965 |
| 5 | Felix Loch | GER | 14 | 3.819 | 3.825 | 51.005 | 51.060 | 1:42.065 |
| 6 | Dominik Fischnaller | ITA | 16 | 3.832 | 3.832 | 50.954 | 51.363 | 1:42.317 |
| 7 | David Gleirscher | AUT | 12 | 3.849 | 3.864 | 51.033 | 51.396 | 1:42.429 |
| 8 | Anton Dukach | UKR | 5 | 3.866 | 3.873 | 51.290 | 51.402 | 1:42.692 |
| 9 | Kristers Aparjods | LAT | 17 | 3.854 | 3.866 | 51.393 | 51.334 | 1:42.727 |
| 10 | Timon Grancagnolo | GER | 7 | 3.867 | 3.880 | 51.461 | 51.298 | 1:42.759 |
| 11 | Gints Berzins | LAT | 9 | 3.829 | 3.837 | 51.320 | 51.500 | 1:42.820 |
| 12 | Alexander Ferlazzo | AUS | 3 | 3.836 | 3.836 | 51.501 | 51.531 | 1:43.032 |
| 13 | Jozef Ninis | SVK | 23 | 3.904 | 3.891 | 51.489 | 51.623 | 1:43.112 |
| 14 | Kaspars Rinks | LAT | 6 | 3.893 | 3.890 | 51.472 | 51.680 | 1:43.152 |
| 15 | Andriy Mandziy | UKR | 2 | 3.869 | 3.878 | 51.488 | 51.722 | 1:43.210 |
| 16 | Lukas Peccei | ITA | 19 | 3.908 | 3.907 | 51.563 | 51.652 | 1:43.215 |
| 17 | Marian Skupek | SVK | 22 | 3.897 | 3.897 | 51.559 | 51.768 | 1:43.327 |
| 18 | Leon Felderer | ITA | 1 | 3.849 | 3.859 | 51.493 | 51.852 | 1:43.345 |
| 19 | Svante Kohala | SWE | 21 | 3.872 | 3.886 | 51.576 | 51.930 | 1:43.506 |
| 20 | Jonathan Gustafson | USA | 4 | 3.857 | 3.845 | 51.474 | 52.383 | 1:43.857 |
| 21 | Tucker West | USA | 10 | 51.639 | ||||
| 22 | Mateusz Sochowicz | POL | 18 | 51.686 | ||||
| 23 | Alex Gufler | ITA | 20 | 51.702 | ||||
| 24 | Valentin Cretu | ROU | 27 | 51.967 | ||||
| 25 | Dylan Morse | CAN | 30 | 52.009 | ||||
| 26 | Aidan Mueller | USA | 26 | 52.045 | ||||
| 27 | Seiya Kobayashi | JPN | 25 | 52.066 | ||||
| 28 | Eduard-Mihai Craciun | ROU | 29 | 52.080 | ||||
| 29 | Danyil Martsinovskyi | UKR | 28 | 52.263 | ||||
| 30 | Theo Downey | CAN | 24 | 53.224 |