From Oberhof, GER
(January 26, 2025) – Earlier in the 2024/2025 season the FIL World Cup made its way through Oberhof. In the men’s race that weekend Austria took the top four spots, which while Austria is good, a sweep in Oberhof of all places was a bit of a surprise.
Max Langenhan and Felix Loch made sure that didn’t happen twice in a row.
Max Langenhan had the fast run of each heat as he slid to a convincing victory over teammate Felix Loch. His first slide opened up a nearly three tenths of a second lead over Loch, with the remainder of the field .35 back or farther.
Langenhan’s second run wasn’t quite as quick as his first, but was the third quickest of the entire competition and more than enough to hold off his teammate and the remainder of the field.
Loch hung with Langenhan in the second heat, but would have had to have overcome a deficit of over two tenths of a second to snatch gold away. That lead was too big, but Loch’s pair of smooth and clean slides was more than enough for a silver medal.
Behind the two Germans, the Austrians once again were strong. Wolfgang Kindl leapfrogged teammate Nico Gleirscher for the third and final position on the podium for his second medal of the weekend after a bronze in the men’s doubles race on Saturday.
Nico Gleirscher was the first slider off the podium in fourth, with Jonas Müller fifth, and David Gleirscher sixth.
Tucker West led the way for the United States with an tenth place finish, up from 12th in the first heat. Teammate Jonny Gustafson had a bit of a disappointing first run that left him 20th after the first heat. His second slide was a bit quicker and he was able to move up to 19th in the second heat.
Hunter Harris, the final American in the field, finished 29th, one spot ahead of Canada’s Dylan Morse.
With two races to go in the 2024/2025 FIL World Cup men’s luge season, Max Langenhan has a 40 point advantage over Nico Gleirscher. Felix Loch is third, with Jonas Müller fourth despite missing one race. Wolfgang Kindl rounds out the top five.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Max Langenhan | GER | 12 | 7.113 | 7.134 | 42.828 | 43.067 | 1:25.895 |
| 2 | Felix Loch | GER | 15 | 7.118 | 7.147 | 43.007 | 43.127 | 1:26.134 |
| 3 | Wolfgang Kindl | AUT | 9 | 7.215 | 7.181 | 43.071 | 43.186 | 1:26.257 |
| 4 | Nico Gleirscher | AUT | 13 | 7.139 | 7.166 | 43.057 | 43.266 | 1:26.323 |
| 5 | Jonas Müller | AUT | 10 | 7.114 | 7.128 | 43.147 | 43.207 | 1:26.354 |
| 6 | David Gleirscher | AUT | 11 | 7.134 | 7.167 | 43.123 | 43.286 | 1:26.409 |
| 7 | Dominik Fischnaller | ITA | 17 | 7.147 | 7.142 | 43.277 | 43.203 | 1:26.480 |
| 8 | Kristers Aparjods | LAT | 16 | 7.187 | 7.186 | 43.362 | 43.315 | 1:26.677 |
| 9 | Timon Grancgnolo | GER | 8 | 7.229 | 7.212 | 43.316 | 43.362 | 1:26.678 |
| 10 | Tucker West | USA | 2 | 7.159 | 7.178 | 43.399 | 43.347 | 1:26.746 |
| 11 | Svante Kohala | SWE | 5 | 7.184 | 7.199 | 43.377 | 43.422 | 1:26.799 |
| 12 | Gints Berzins | LAT | 14 | 7.171 | 7.150 | 43.537 | 43.273 | 1:26.810 |
| 13 | Jozef Ninis | SVK | 1 | 7.260 | 7.263 | 43.409 | 43.623 | 1:27.032 |
| 14 | Alexander Ferlazzo | AUS | 4 | 7.146 | 7.152 | 43.292 | 43.741 | 1:27.033 |
| 15 | Kaspars Rinks | LAT | 6 | 7.233 | 7.225 | 43.521 | 43.557 | 1:27.078 |
| 16 | Marco Leger | GER | 18 | 7.198 | 7.191 | 43.532 | 43.552 | 1:27.084 |
| 17 | Mateusz Sochowicz | POL | 19 | 7.136 | 7.120 | 43.590 | 43.519 | 1:27.109 |
| 18 | Jonathan Gustafson | USA | 3 | 7.172 | 7.196 | 43.644 | 43.535 | 1:27.179 |
| 19 | Anton Dukach | UKR | 7 | 7.205 | 7.214 | 43.617 | 43.606 | 1:27.223 |
| 21 | Alex Gufler | ITA | 20 | 7.214 | 43.686 | |||
| 22 | Marian Skupek | SVK | 22 | 7.276 | 43.949 | |||
| 23 | Lukas Peccei | ITA | 29 | 7.281 | 43.989 | |||
| 24 | Andriy Mandziy | UKR | 23 | 7.313 | 44.018 | |||
| 25 | Valentin Cretu | ROU | 28 | 7.233 | 44.139 | |||
| 26 | Danyil Martsinovskyi | UKR | 27 | 7.268 | 44.178 | |||
| 27 | Eduard-Mihai Craciun | ROU | 30 | 7.289 | 44.182 | |||
| 28 | Seiya Kobayashi | JPN | 25 | 7.290 | 44.224 | |||
| 29 | Hunter Harris | USA | 24 | 7.251 | 44.324 | |||
| 30 | Dylan Morse | CAN | 26 | 7.238 | 44.617 |