From Kühtai, AUT
(January 25, 2025) – Week in and week out, the men’s luge portion of the World Cup on natural track is the closest racing on tour. Where the women’s and doubles races can be sometimes settled by over a second, the men’s races are generally tight events where whoever makes the fewest mistakes will bring home gold.
In the 2025 World Championships, Michael Scheikl took to home ice and completely dominated over three runs to win by 1.32 seconds over Daniel Gruber.
Not only did Scheikl win every heat, he did so by at least three tenths in every run. He also had the quick start time in all three runs on his way to his first world championship title.
“I’m at a loss for words,” Scheikl told FIL media after the race. “I truly don’t know what to say…this is a dream come true!”
The racing behind Scheikl was much tighter. Daniel Gruber was the top of the four Italians who rounded out the top five. He out-slid Patrick Pigneter at every turn to win his first career World Championships medal, .34 ahead of Pigneter, who won bronze.
“I wasn’t expecting a medal, especially after my performance in training,” Gruber said. “The race just went perfectly.”
Pigneter’s bronze medal came in what he announced would be his final world championship race.
“This was definitely my final World Championship. To stand on the podium one last time is wonderful,” said Pigneter.
Pigneter’s longtime doubles partner, Florian Clara, finished fourth, while Fabian Brunner rounded out the top five.
Thomas Matthews was the top American in 23rd. Leonard Pizziola was 29th and Mason Palecek 33rd to round out the American effort.
USA’s Torrey Cookman, usually the top American on the natural track tour, did not start. Due to his schedule at Western Michigan University, he was unable to compete in this year’s World Championships.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Run 1 | Run 2 | Run 3 | Total |
| 1 | Michael Scheikl | AUT | 31 | 56.01 | 55.83 | 56.19 | 2:48.03 |
| 2 | Daniel Gruber | ITA | 32 | 56.38 | 56.32 | 56.65 | 2:49.35 |
| 3 | Patrick Pigneter | ITA | 28 | 56.57 | 56.46 | 56.66 | 2:49.69 |
| 4 | Florian Clara | ITA | 29 | 56.76 | 56.13 | 56.87 | 2:49.76 |
| 5 | Fabian Brunner | ITA | 30 | 57.07 | 56.53 | 56.73 | 2:50.33 |
| 6 | Fabian Achenrainer | AUT | 25 | 56.82 | 56.82 | 56.99 | 2:50.63 |
| 7 | Vid Kralj | SLO | 24 | 56.65 | 57.08 | 57.68 | 2:51.41 |
| 8 | Stefan Federer | SUI | 34 | 57.25 | 57.18 | 58.36 | 2:52.79 |
| 9 | Florian Markt | AUT | 20 | 57.49 | 57.37 | 58.10 | 2:52.96 |
| 10 | Sebastian Feldhammer | AUT | 27 | 57.88 | 57.41 | 57.75 | 2:53.04 |
| 11 | Vincent Streit | GER | 26 | 58.40 | 58.27 | 58.48 | 2:55.15 |
| 12 | Gabriel Halcin | SVK | 19 | 58.57 | 58.63 | 58.26 | 2:55.46 |
| 13 | Simon Dietz | GER | 7 | 58.37 | 59.44 | 58.42 | 2:56.23 |
| 14 | Samuel Halcin | SVK | 23 | 58.50 | 59.02 | 58.87 | 2:56.39 |
| 15 | Ziga Kralj | SLO | 33 | 64.88 | 57.13 | 57.15 | 2:59.16 |
| 16 | Peter Neupauer | SVK | 22 | 59.48 | 59.29 | 60.73 | 2:59.50 |
| 17 | Remi d’ Aviau de Ternay | FRA | 3 | 59.27 | 59.36 | 61.14 | 2:59.77 |
| 18 | Jerome Almer | SUI | 21 | 59.82 | 60.12 | 60.35 | 3:00.29 |
| 19 | Marco Almer | SUI | 6 | 60.47 | 60.40 | 60.05 | 3:00.92 |
| 20 | Viorel Deac | ROU | 8 | 61.29 | 60.07 | 59.62 | 3:00.98 |
| 21 | David Rydl | CZE | 14 | 60.35 | 60.19 | 60.52 | 3:01.06 |
| 22 | Coskun Ercoskun | FIN | 17 | 61.92 | 62.17 | 61.09 | 3:05.18 |
| 23 | Thomas Matthews | USA | 18 | 63.97 | 62.23 | 60.94 | 3:07.14 |
| 24 | Dominik Neupauer | SVK | 9 | 62.95 | 61.78 | 62.76 | 3:07.49 |
| 25 | Wojciech Kwiecinski | POL | 5 | 63.46 | 62.81 | 62.75 | 3:09.02 |
| 26 | Konrad Plonka | POL | 11 | 63.30 | 63.50 | 62.49 | 3:09.29 |
| 27 | Cornel Coca | ROU | 4 | 63.07 | 65.07 | 2:08.14 | |
| 28 | Silvio Strugari | ROU | 2 | 64.76 | 64.11 | 2:08.87 | |
| 29 | Leonard Pizziola | USA | 10 | 64.60 | 64.75 | 2:09.35 | |
| 30 | Nikolas Dawidowski | POL | 13 | 65.81 | 64.74 | 2:10.55 | |
| 31 | Patryk Hudy | POL | 12 | 67.98 | 65.75 | 2:13.73 | |
| 32 | Shohei Tanaka | SUI | 16 | 68.16 | 66.16 | 2:14.32 | |
| 33 | Mason Palecek | USA | 15 | 75.37 | 61.43 | 2:16.80 |